In The Shadows
by cgal120
Summary: Sequel to Bump In The Night - One year after the attack of the Autumn Witch, the teenagers want to pay their respects for their fallen friend's anniversary; but, with big plans being formed for the Witch's Hut, will the dead come back once more? USUK more
1. Chapter 1

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter One**_

Sometimes an event can happen that will shake a community to it's very core. It happens very rarely, but when it does happen the event becomes a legacy amongst those who had been around to witness it and those who had heard the stories.

However, it is a very rare moment if everyone knew the truth behind the event.

For a small multicultural town in the Southern region of Britain, one event did just that but only those there new the truth behind the tale; but still only 2 knew the entire tale.

It had started on a cold Halloween night a year previously, a day when the veil between the worlds of normal and paranormal were at it's thinnest. Whilst trick-or-treating, a young boy walked through the darkened streets of the small town with his best friend and saw something that haunted him since.

A girl, a young woman, had been standing in the tree watching him. She was deathly pale and covered in dirt and bruises, her blood red hair flowing in the evening breeze. Her face was shrouded in shadows, but her peculiar grey eyes shone through the darkness. He could see her torn filthy dress, but as soon as his friend had tapped his shoulder she disappeared.

After that incident, the pair had gone back to the boy's house for a movie night, both huddling under their blankets during a scary movie; listening as a terrible storm flared up outside of the house. Lightning flashed across the sky but it was in those moments that the pair noticed a strange shadow on the wall.

The girl. The very same girl that the boy had seen before was being reflected onto the wall. Moving over by the conservatory door in the living room, the boy saw no one in the back garden. However, when lightning flashed again, he saw the shadow move and put it's hand on his shoulder. He rushed back to his friend's side and the pair hid from the shadows together.

Unfortunately, from that point onwards, odd goings on started to happen from whispering voices around the boy to the girl's face appearing in the smoke as a Science experiment exploded.

Then came the night of the boy's birthday.

November the 5th.

Fireworks were flying through the sky constantly that evening, but that wasn't in the interest of the group of boys that travelled to the public gardens to camp out for the evening. They explored the woods until the boy fell into a large rut, a pathway that led the group an aged graveyard filled with mossy headstones.

Willow Autumn, the woman of legend said to be the Autumn witch, was buried in the graveyard with the exact same death date as two of the boy's relatives. Hurrying back to the camp site, the boys settled down. However, when one disappeared in the woods, the boys formed search parties; each group seeing something that shocked them back to the tents. However, the boy was soon kidnapped by the woman, Willow, and taken to a small area in which she started to bleed him out.

With the help of the ghosts of the boy's ancestors, the boy's friend managed to find him and use the legend of the Witch's Hut to trap Willow inside. Every boy was injured in Willow's final attack, one dying before the paramedics arrived, and the boy going into a coma after losing so much blood.

Thankfully, the boy awoke; he and his friend finally confessing their feelings for one another before a fireworks evening near the end of November in memoriam.

On that night, the boy had convinced himself that everything was over.

That boy was called Arthur Kirkland, and he could never imagine just how wrong he could be.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Screaming loudly, the alarm clock on the shelf beside his bed blared suddenly, waking Arthur from his sleep. He reached over and slammed his hand against the device, silencing it before turning over and curling up against something nice and warm. He smiled softly as he felt arms wrap around him, looking up at his favourite face and smiling softly.

Alfred Jones smiled back at him sleepily, leaning down and kissing him softly. Arthur kissed him back, smiling through it.

"Good morning," he said quietly, looking up at his best friend and boyfriend.

"Mornin'," Alfred replied, yawning slightly. Both boys sat up in the bed before flopping back with Alfred on top of Arthur. "We have class first thing…"

"I can't be bothered…" Arthur said, pulling the American boy down for a kiss.

The summer holidays had travelled quickly for the two boys, the trees slowly turning from their vibrant greens to autumn browns. It was the middle of October, nearing Halloween once more, and the boys had now been in further education for a month. Alfred had found the transition into college a rather weird experience, making constant complaints that if he had been in America still he'd be in High School still. Being 16 years old and in college already made him feel a little weird, but Arthur helped him through the transition by saying that he was in high school still; it was just another building and with classes of his choice.

Though they were starting at similar times that Wednesday, roughly 9:15, they had chosen different areas of study to focus on.

Arthur had gone down the media route, taking on an extended BTEC along the journalism path. Alfred had taken a different path, moving more towards a Chemistry A-level, a Maths A-level and ICT A-level. Arthur's hours were long than Alfred's during the day, but whenever they got the chance they spent time together.

The night before was something that Arthur really wanted to recreate that morning, a little surprised by his own behaviour as he wrapped his arms around the American's neck to deepen the kiss. The night before had included hot kisses and touches, moans and groans of each others names.

Alfred realised what was going on so pulled back and smiled at Arthur softly. "Let's get washed and dressed, okay?" he said, smiling. "I'll get in the shower with you if you want."

"Oh, don't tempt me," Arthur chuckled, sitting up and kissing him again. "We'll need to hurry though; Peter will be up soon."

Alfred nodded and pushed the covers back, grinning at Arthur's already naked body. He climbed out of bed with Arthur and grabbed some towels with him, hurrying to the bathroom. They got into the bathroom and locked the door, turning on the shower and adjusting the temperature before getting inside and washing.

Things for the two 16 year olds had slowly returned to normal after the incident of the year before. Well, as normal as it could be as they started to go out together. They'd finished their education at school with A*s and other high grades, honours and a whole manner of different certificates to their names.

The memories of that evening nearly a whole year ago still haunted them; Arthur's coma and the battle against Willow had shook them so very deeply, but they had kept each other sane enough to cope with the pain.

They were still in contact with their friends too, each of them picking similar courses to each other and meeting up occasionally. Gilbert Beilschmidt was in the same class as Arthur and Alfred was with his brother Ludwig in Chemistry. The Italian brothers had chosen music, cooking and art as their classes, Antonio had gone for Music and P.E, and Kiku was in the ICT class with Alfred.

Soon, they were planning on going to the public gardens once more to put some flowers on the site of the murder of their friend, Francis Bonnefoy; the one boy that Willow had managed to kill.

Arthur was very nervous about going back to the garden's on his birthday; they were going during the day, but it was still a very tough area for him to enter still. Nothing about the area had changed in the last year; people still walked their dogs there, fished in the lakes and jogged around the woods. They still speculated the events that had happened, but only Arthur and Alfred knew the true background to it.

Alexander and Raymond Kirkland had returned from the dead for that one evening, the evening that years ago they had died on because of the Autumn Witch. They had explained the tale to the boys, helping Alfred to get to Arthur in time and giving Arthur the key to capturing the Witch. Everything had come to an end that evening, but Arthur could still hear the screaming and feel the blood seeping from him on silent nights alone; only Alfred able to push the images and flashbacks away.

The pair soon got out of the shower and dried off, moving back to Arthur's room quickly and dressing for their days before walking downstairs to have some breakfast. Arthur poured Alfred out some cereal, making himself some toast which he inevitably burnt. Alfred wrinkled his nose at the smell as he sat at the kitchen counter eating, looking away in disgust as Arthur started to put Marmite on his toast. The British boy rolled his eyes and scoffed at Alfred before eating his toast.

"You are totally brushing your teeth before you kiss me next," Alfred said, finishing his cereal and drinking the milk from the bowl.

"Aw, but I want to kiss you now," Arthur smirked, taking another bite and making sure a little Marmite was on his lips.

"Back off!" Alfred said, making a cross with his fingers. Arthur laughed and finished his toast, licking the Marmite from his lips before putting the plate and bowl in the washing up. He smiled as his mother walked into the room, the woman looking at the pair and chuckling.

"You two get more bizarre together each time I see you," she said, making herself a cup of tea. "You better go brush your teeth or you'll miss your bus."

"Sure, Mum," Arthur said, kissing her cheek quickly and hurrying upstairs.

"Thanks, Ms K!" Alfred grinned, running after him. The woman chuckled again and watched them go, rolling her eyes a little as she turned to make her tea.

After brushing their teeth and packing their bags quickly, the pair hurried from the house and ran up the street towards the bus stop. Their college was just on the outskirts of their multicultural town, but it was one that offered similar opportunities to that of their old high school. They smiled as they got to their stop, standing with Antonio who was waiting their too.

"Toni!" Alfred grinned. "Where's Lovino?"

"He doesn't have to be in until lunchtime," Antonio sighed, looking a little downbeat at the thought. He perked up though after a moment and grinned at the pair. "He'll be joining me in the canteen though at 12 so that'll be good!"

Arthur chuckled and flagged the bus down as he spotted it driving up the street, getting his pass out of his pocket and showing it to the driver as he got aboard. He took a seat and waited as Alfred showed his pass and sat beside him, both grinning as Antonio sat in front of them and turned back to talk as they pulled away from the curb and head towards the college.

Once they got to college, Arthur gave Alfred a quick kiss before running off towards the South East building, the American smiling before heading off into the North building for his Chemistry class.

Arthur walked up the path next to the roads and the car parks, walking down a sloped path before climbing up some stairs and walking into the South building. He walked through the nicely heated corridors quickly, making his way through to the South East building, just past the Balcony Café. He rushed down the spiral staircase and entered a separate corridor, walking up to his first classroom that day and entering when he saw his Graphic Design teacher, Paul, sat inside talking to Gilbert. The Prussian boy grinned at Arthur and hurried over to take his seat.

"Dude! This vork is going to be so freaking awesome!" he grinned. "Ve're starting on the Google work!"

"Cool!" Arthur grinned, watching as their other classmates started to make their way into the room. He looked around towards the window when one of the other students shut it because of the incoming breeze, and froze at what he saw. He had to rub his eyes and take a look but in the distance, just down the path, it looked like there was a boy with long blonde hair, wearing a blue shirt and red trousers, staring at his classroom. He was awfully pale and looked as though he had blood stains in his hair and on his clothes. Arthur blinked in surprise as he waved to him, no one else taking any notice of him, but when he opened his eyes he was gone.

_**Notes:**_

_**Me: Yes! Hello! This is the rather sucky first chapter of the sequel to Bump In The Night! Exactly one year ago, the original story was published on here and I put up a vote asking what you guys wanted. A lot of people said another school universe, so first came Scream. But more said a sequel so here it is! I hope you will enjoy this one as much as the first and will be able to pick out any joke or hint I give. **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Two**_

Blinking a couple of times, Arthur's mind tried to catch up with what he had just seen outside of the window. It was extremely strange, but he knew that he had just seen someone that looked creepily like Francis.

It couldn't have been Francis though, he tried to reason with himself. Francis had died almost a year ago, it wouldn't be possible for him to return. And if he had returned then why was he standing in random places staring at him of all people.

But then it hit him.

Of course Francis could come back. Other people had come back as ghosts before so why would he be any different. They did nothing but let Raymond and Alexander go, and trapped Willow in the witches hut. But Francis… Francis was simply a corpse left heartless on the dirty beaten track back towards the entrance of the park. There was just something about the woods that seemed to hold a curse on the town and any who died there. It seemed to Arthur that people's souls seemed to get trapped there if they died on the grounds.

"Arthur?"

Blinking and jumping slightly, Arthur looked away from the window and towards the voice who had brought him back from his thoughts. Gilbert was watching him worriedly, his red eyes scanning over his face as the teacher continued to talk without noticing them.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Arthur said, nodding slightly. "I'm fine."

"Why were you staring out of the window?"

Arthur swallowed thickly and looked away from Gilbert as the teacher called on them for an answer. He gave the description of GIF and JPEG images that were needed and then turned back to his computer monitor, determined to steer clear of the subject as fast as he could. He could still feel Gilbert's eyes on him, hearing him sigh softly before feeling a hand on his shoulder.

"We all nervous, Arthur," the Prussian boy said. "With the memorial coming up and everything… I'm awesome, but I'm still nervous about going into the gardens again."

"Yeah," Arthur said, finally turning back to his friend. "You know, it's just been getting to me a little… Where I live so close to the woods and that…"

"Just do that writing thing," Gilbert grinned. "You are an awesome writer, Arthur! And if writing a scary story to vent your feelings helps then fucking do it, man! Just don't mope; you kill the mood!"

Arthur chuckled and little and shoved Gilbert away from him as the Prussian grinned brightly and tried to drape his arm around his shoulder. "Get off me, East."

"Fuck, Brit!" Gilbert said, faking a dramatic fall. "Why must you call me East?"

"Because we call Ludwig West," Arthur shrugged. "You know, because you're-"

"I know…" he sighed, returning to his usual grin. "Anyways! To Google!"

"More like, 'to Tumblr' because you are more likely to start writing on your blog than work on this project," Arthur commented, smirking at the other.

Gilbert flipped the other off, making Arthur laugh and finally lighten up since the lesson began. They started drawing up ideas for their project, working quickly through the first two hours of their lesson. When it came to their break time, however, the pair stayed in the classroom as the others went outside to drink, smoke and eat for 30 minutes. Arthur got a packet of crisps out of his bag and started to eat them, watching as Gilbert scrolled along the college's website in search of the link to their work site.

"What are you doing?" Arthur said, throwing one of his crisps at the Prussian's head.

"Trying to find Batty's work…" he muttered.

Arthur blinked and moved over to look at his monitor. Batty was a reference to their crazy journalism teacher, Aileen. Watching Gilbert scroll through all of the classes, he finally spotted their task from last week. It wasn't due for another 3 weeks, but they had her class the next day and would likely get yelled at if they had nothing to work on.

_Pick a topic from your local history, true or urban legend, and write a report on it. You must include sources and a bibliography_.

Arthur paled slightly, his mind travelling back to the legend that had got them in trouble the year before. The Autumn Witch. He could easily write a report on that, it would help vent his feelings as Gilbert had said, he knew most of the story and it would give him a chance to look into the background of it more.

"Can you print me off a copy of the brief?" he asked, smiling as Gilbert nodded and printed two copies off. He stood and walked to the large printer on the other side of the room, gathering the papers for the assignment brief before handing one copy to Gilbert.

"What are you going to write about?" Gilbert asked, looking at Arthur.

"I have an idea," Arthur replied vaguely, looking at the sheet rather than his friend. Gilbert watched him for a moment, before looking at his computer screen; he knew what Arthur was thinking, and hoped that he didn't do anything stupid in order to fulfil the criteria on this report.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

As usual since they had started their course in September, the pair were stuck sat in the corridor during a two hour break time between their first and last lesson that day. Neither really wanted to go to their last lesson, but they really had little other choice. Unless some miracle happened, they were going to be stuck bored as they were for the rest of the afternoon.

Both looked up as a sudden blaring bell sounded, the smell of smoke drifting through the corridors towards them. Their eyes widened and they scrambled to their feet, grabbing their backs and running to the fire exit. They looked around as other students ran outside too, everyone smelling the smoke but not seeing a fire.

Gathering out on the South East car park, the large amount of students looked around as they finally saw the source of the smoke.

"It's coming from the East building!" one girl cried.

"FIRE!" one boy screamed, running around like a lunatic and trying to cause a panic.

Arthur looked in the direction of the smoke, before looking at Gilbert in a panic. "Gil… Alfred and Matthew are in the East block at the moment…"

Gilbert blinked and looked too, realising the same. He started to move back towards the college, but Arthur held him back.

"Gil, going and getting yourself killed won't help!"

"B-but, M-Mattie!"

"He'll be fine!" Arthur said, trying to reassure himself at the same time that Alfred was okay. They waited with everyone, looking around with everyone else for some sign of what was going on. They saw staff members walking around and taking account of everyone, both boys jumping as they felt hands tap their shoulders. They turned and looked up at a sight that surprised them.

Alfred and Matthew were stood with identical awkward smiles on their faces, both covered in soot from head to foot. Gilbert moved forwards and wrapped his arms around Matthew, closing his eyes in relief. Arthur hurried forwards and hugged Alfred tightly, feeling Alfred's arms wrap around him.

"What happened?" he asked, reaching up and smoothing some of the soot from his cheek.

"An experiment blew up in the class and set fire…" Alfred replied, leaning against Arthur's hand.

"By 'an experiment'," Matthew said, resting his head against Gilbert, "he actually means _his_ experiment."

Arthur looked up at Alfred again and shook his head. "That sounds more like it."

"HEY!"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

After another 20 minutes of standing around, the students were finally allowed to go home as the systems had shut down after the fire alarm went off. Alfred had grabbed Arthur's hand in an instant and started dragging him towards the bus stop through the crowd. Arthur laughed a little, trying to keep up with him. However, he fell silent as he saw someone stood on the outskirts of the crowd.

He was standing still, in the same clothes as before and yet again he was staring at Arthur as though he was the only one in the car park he could see.

Francis raised his arm and pointed at Arthur, the Brit running to keep up with Alfred out of shock. He ended up bumping into him at one point, making Alfred turn around and look at him in concern.

"Arthur, are you okay?"

"Yeah! Of course!" Arthur said, smiling up at him. "Let's go! I went to spend some time at your house before I have to go home and do homework!"

Alfred, unable to sense the tense atmosphere around Arthur, nodded and grinned. "Come on then!" he exclaimed, running with Arthur to the bus stop; unaware of Arthur constantly looking backwards in fear that Francis was going to follow him.

The journey to Alfred's house went much quicker than either of them thought it would, both of them getting welcoming hugs from Alfred and Matthew's mother before Alfred dragged Arthur up to his bedroom.

"How long do you have till you have to go home?" Alfred asked.

"I guess until about 5ish," Arthur said. "Mum doesn't know I'm out of college early and I don't really feel like calling her."

Alfred looked at him confusedly. "But won't she be worried?"

Arthur shook his head. "Not really," he said, smiling at Alfred. "Now we've got 4 hours until I need to leave. What are we going to do?"

Alfred grinned and picked up a DVD, Arthur grinning brightly in return when he saw it was one of the final halves of Harry Potter. He jumped onto the bed after Alfred put the DVD on, the pair curling up and watching it in the dark; Arthur unable to relax fully for fear of eyes watching him from afar.

_**Notes:**_

_**Me: Hey again. Yeah, bit of a delay between updates simply because I was giving it time to get any comments. Honestly, it was so barren… BUT ONE PERSON HAS REVIEWED AND YOU SPECIAL PERSON GET A SHOUT OUT!**_

_**KAT! Thank you!**_

_**Anyways, I hope you are enjoying the story so far! I'll update again soon and stuff because I have so much planned for this story! Also, totally sticking with the head canon I saw that they geek out and watch Harry Potter together.**_

_**SEE YOU SOON! **_


	3. Chapter 3

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Three**_

Alfred knew in an instant that something wasn't right as Arthur left his house that evening. Normally, he wouldn't be able to pick up something so simple, but in this case he found it to be incredibly easy.

Normally, when leaving Alfred's house, Arthur would look behind him and smile, he would wave until he was out of sight. His shoulders would back and his head held high, pride in every little action.

That day, however, his shoulders were slumped forwards and his waving was minimal. He looked at the ground as he walked, his whole frame seeming smaller somehow. Alfred wanted nothing more than to run after him and hold him, to find out what was going on, but he couldn't. Matthew would be home soon and he had the house key. So he went back inside and waited for the right to call the English boy or talk to him online.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Arthur kept his eyes on the floor as he walked home, not wanting to inadvertently see something that he knew would scar him more than he already was. He rubbed his hands together, finally looking up as he got to the main road.

"Get yourself together," he muttered, looking for cars before quickly crossing the road. He continued to walk down the street until he reached his house, hurrying up to the front door and putting his key into the lock. He opened the door and stepped inside, looking around after shutting it as he heard a noise in the living room. He walked forwards and looked around the doorframe, spotting his mother sat on the sofa with a bottle of brandy.

"Oh, you're home," she said, glancing up at him. Her accent was thicker, her words slurring signify that the glass in her hand wasn't the first drink she had had that day.

"Yeah, I'm home," Arthur said, looking at the half empty bottle on the coffee table before looking into the kitchen quickly and spotting another. "Mum… How about I put the drink away now?"

"Oh no," Liz said, shaking her head at her son. "This is the only bit of enjoyment I get these days…" Arthur flinched slightly, knowing where this was going. "You know, because your father left and you turned queer and Peter won't talk to anyone… Fuck, if that kid turns out like you…"

"I didn't turn this way…" Arthur said. "I can't help loving who I do…"

"Fuck. Honestly, if Peter turns into a fag like you it will be your fault," Liz said, her words slurring as she pointed the drink at Arthur. He watched as some of the amber liquid slipped out, closing his eyes for a moment. He was used to this, more now than ever. His mother had always had homophobic tendencies, but kept them hidden when Alfred was around. But that was normally because she was sober when Alfred was around.

Arthur didn't have a response to give his mother, the woman sipping her drink again before looking at the blank TV screen and laughing. He rubbed his arm and went upstairs, trying to block his mother's laughter from his mind. She had been rather bitter since Arthur's father, James, left to take a job in Scotland, moving in with his new wife and her son. Though they had never met, Arthur knew that he wouldn't get along with Scott. He was 19 and a loudmouth who liked to drink.

Shaking his head slightly, Arthur walked into his bedroom and dumped his bag on the floor before turning to his desk and turning his laptop on. He was determined to get on with some research that evening, even if it was only a small amount.

Whilst the laptop loaded, Arthur moved onto his bed and looked out of his window, a small sense of paranoia creeping it's way through him. He kept seeing things in the corners of his eyes, but as he looked out into the street he could see no one out there. There was an old lady walking her dog but she always walked past for as long as Arthur could remember. He sighed softly and went back over to his desk, sitting down in front of his laptop and loading a word document and setting to work on his introduction.

_In this report, I will be discussing the urban legend that has been of great importance to me for a long time; the Autumn Witch. I'll be looking into the background of the legend, the story and people involved, and most importantly discovering the true reason why the witch is still haunting the grounds of the Public Gardens._

Arthur sighed as he finished the intro, knowing that it really didn't need to be done just yet. It was just a summary of what was going to go into the report, something that really should be left until last, but he just couldn't help himself. He loaded up Google and started on his research into the local area.

Blinking slightly, he opened up a map of the area dated around the time of his ancestor, Raymond's, death. It looked fairly old, but depicted on the browning image was the woods and the housing system at the time. Looking along the old street names, he found himself a path up past where his house would have been in that day and up to the woodlands. He could make out the cottage of Willow Autumn plotted as one of the residences, but past the graveyard in the Public Gardens a large manor house was plotted. By the looks of the plot lines, it was fairly large building so Arthur saved a copy of the map onto his laptop and continued his digging.

He widened his search margins and started to look into the ownership of the old manor house, trying to find pictures and details of whether it was still in the area. He would have tried Google Earth, but he wasn't sure if it covered that area so looked into the residency records from that time period. It wasn't an easy feat to do, but eventually Arthur found something that looked promising.

_Frontum Manor was the largest manor house in the southern coastal area of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The garden area was once a large haven for wildlife, but it was soon cut into thirds when the main roads were placed in. Since then, the grounds have been over grown and turned into Public Gardens and an animal sanctuary. Another third was turned into one of the primary schools in the area._

_However grand the manor may seem, the tale around it is one that holds much confusion for historians._

_The house has only had one known family in its residency. In the late 1800s, the manor was own by the wealthy Eden family; consisting of George Eden, Mary Eden and their young daughter, Willow. However, the house still remains in the possession of the Eden family despite no other members of their family being registered. No one has been able to get into the house to investigate and the building has been declared abandoned._

Arthur read and reread every word in the article, grinning slightly and making quick notes. So, Willow hadn't always been called Autumn; her real last name had been Eden. What had happened up at Frontum Manor to make her leave for the small cottage? What had happened to her family to make her flee her home? Had she really fled her home?

Oh so many questions were flying through Arthur's brain and he was starting to become morbidly excited to find out the answers. The girl with so many secrets was about to tell her final tale, and Arthur couldn't wait to be the one to bring it out into the open; even if it was for a simple college report.

Deciding that now would be the most opportune moment to take a break, Arthur saved all of his findings twice and got up from his chair. He head out of his bedroom with the hopes of getting a drink, but then he remembered his mother downstairs and sighed. He had already walked out onto the landing, so looked up as he heard music coming from up in the attic.

Grabbing the ladder and turning it into the right position, Arthur climbed up the metal frame and took a look into the left side's room.

Peter was sat with his laptop, a guitar in his lap as he tried to watch a tutorial video on how to play _Animal I Have Become_. He looked up as he saw Arthur peak inside, smiling a little and shifting so he could join him.

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked, looking at the battered old guitar. It was his old one that he had stowed away in the attic for safe keeping since he had gotten a new one for Christmas last year.

"I'm trying to learn this song for my music class," Peter sighed, putting the song on again so that Arthur could here it. "I'm slowly getting the chords, but it's really hard…"

"Try it like this," Arthur said, taking the guitar for the moment and playing the first few notes in the song. He handed it back and watched as Peter copied, chuckling at the grin that formed on his face.

"Thanks, Arthur!" he grinned.

"No problem," Arthur replied. "Maybe for your 15th I'll get you a guitar of your own to play with."

"Would you?" Peter asked, surprised. His birthday wasn't for another few months, but it was still an exciting promise.

"Of course," Arthur smiled.

"THANK YOU!" Peter exclaimed, grinning brighter and continuing to practice so that he would have reason to have the guitar. Arthur chuckled until he heard thudding.

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT THE FUCK UP?" exclaimed Liz, standing at the bottom of the stairs clutching the brandy bottle. She walked away again soon enough, Peter sighing as he turned his music down more.

"I go up here to get some peace," he said, glancing at Arthur. "But since Dad left I can't find any because she always shouts…"

"I know," Arthur said. "It'll get better though, I promise."

Peter nodded but sighed again, continuing with his practice. Arthur stayed for a moment longer before going back down the ladder and into his bedroom again. After that outburst from his mother, he really could be bothered to do anymore work so simply went back to his laptop and loaded MSN. He was a little concerned when it started to flash slightly, giving it a moment to load until he looked at the list of people online.

Francis.

He blinked and looked at the account name, rubbing his eyes slightly and watching as a window opened and a message popped up.

Francis: Bonjour, Arthur.

Arthur's breath came out shaky as he looked at the monitor of his laptop, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. It couldn't be Francis. It just couldn't… He had to know though so typed.

Arthur: Francis?

Francis: Oui…

Arthur: But… how? You're dead… I went to your funeral… Kiku found your body!

Francis: Ah, but we both know that death is only the beginning in this town.

Arthur: So, I'm emailing someone who is emailing me from beyond the grave. You guys certainly have better Wi-Fi connection than the living.

Francis: It's a perk, non?

Arthur: What do you want? Why do you keep following me?

Francis: Don't go to the woods.

Arthur: Excuse me?

Francis: I know of your plan with the others to go to the woods on your birthday to mark my death! Don't go!

Arthur: But

Francis: For once, don't argue, Arthur… There are plans that will free Willow and the manor is the source. You've found the trail. Don't follow it.

Arthur: So it's true.

Francis: I have to go. DO NOT FOLLOW THE TRAIL.

Arthur watched as his screen faded to black then lit up again, his MSN back to normal with only Alfred online this time. His heart was racing a mile a minute, and he jumped as Alfred sent him a message and the alert went off.

Alfred: Yo! Arthur! I just found out the college is closed earlier for half term cos the system is fucked! Isn't that awesome?

Arthur: Awesome, yes…

Alfred: Are you okay? You seemed off when you left.

Arthur pondered for a moment; should he tell Alfred and possibly seem crazy, or keep it a secret and do some more digging despite his dead friend's warning?

Arthur: Alfred, I am perfectly okay.

_**Notes:**_

_**UPDATE AHOY! :] Sorry for the delay, I just had to get involved with Sweethearts Week! But I got some great inspiration today so updates should be more regular I hope. I plan on getting Danger Days done soon too (either tomorrow or the next day) but I'll also update The Kids From Yesterday too.**_

_**But still! FRANCIS. Poor old Francey pants. Back sort of from the dead and trapped. But what is this? Willow has more secrets? There are plans? A secret house? Look out for the answers soon!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Four**_

Not wanting to wake up that morning, Arthur turned over and curled into his bedcovers as he realised he was conscious again. He sighed softly, burying his head under the pillows as well as he heard a clattering in the kitchen downstairs. He knew that this meant his mother was awake; most likely creating some random concoction to cure the probable raging hangover she had.

Arthur really had no sympathy for his mother and her drinking, simply because of all the abuse she normally subjected him too.

Last night had been a minor occurrence, the abuse simply verbal. In other situations, Liz had turned physical, throwing her glass at him or hitting him. He had gone into college with bruises on his ribs before where she's attacked him, but he made sure that no one (not even Peter or Alfred) ever saw them.

Sniffing slightly, he could smell bacon being cooked in the kitchen; groaning again as he realised that his mother was making herself a bacon sandwich. He and Peter normally had to fend for themselves, so that meant that he would likely be giving Peter money to buy himself a snack on the way to school that day.

With a final sigh, Arthur heaved his bedcovers off him and sat up. He rubbed his face and looked out of his bedroom window, leaning on the windowsill slightly as he looked out into the woods.

Everything that had happened the night before was sticking with him, and there was nothing he could do to push away the images and ideas that were forming in his mind. He knew that he wasn't crazy, all of the events that had happened the year before were proof of that, so Arthur knew that these messages that he had received from Francis weren't being faked. He had talked to his dead friend the night before, he had. He may not have the proof of it, but he knew deep in his heart that it hadn't been a dream.

Francis had given him a warning, a warning not to go into the woods. What could this big secret be around that old manor that the dead French-boy knew now? It had to be something to do with how the family there died. It just had to.

Arthur looked at the clock on his wall, seeing it was 7o'clock in the morning. He got up and rummaged through his wallet, getting out a £5 note and taking it to Peter's room. The boy was sat on his bed putting his school uniform on, so Arthur walked over and put the money on his table.

"What's that for?" Peter asked, doing his tie before putting his shoes on.

"Lunch today," Arthur replied, listening to the clattering in the kitchen.

"Oh right… Mum has a hangover so I don't have food for school," Peter sighed. "Arthur, why has she gone like this? I've never known her to act this way before…"

"Dad moving away and getting remarried took it's toll on her," Arthur said, sitting down beside his brother. "I doubt there will be anything we can do for her…"

"Can't we get her help?" Peter asked. "You know, get her to go to meetings or something?"

Arthur chuckled sadly and glanced at his brother. "I wish it could as simple as that…" he mumbled. "But if anyone were to find out what she's been doing, you could get taken away. You're only 14. I would too… I'm only 16, I can't take care of you in the eyes of the law…"

"You're nearly 17 though," Peter argued.

"I have to be 18 to be a legal guardian though," Arthur said.

"I don't want to get separated from you though," Peter said, grabbing Arthur's arm and looking panicked. "What if people find out? What if we're separated…?"

"I'm doing my best to make sure no one finds out," Arthur said, looking at Peter seriously for a moment. "It'll be okay, I promise. Besides, if it comes to it, we'll end up in Scotland with Dad…"

"But I don't want to go there!" Peter exclaimed. "I want to stay here with my friends! Mia wants help with Marcello because he's being weird!"

Arthur put his arm around Peter and held him close, trying to calm him down before he started to hyperventilate. "Peter, don't panic over things that may never happen… I promise you, I will do everything in my power to make sure it never happens…"

Peter nodded and calmed himself down after a moment. "I need to finish getting ready for school…" he muttered. "Thanks for the money. I'll pay you it back…"

Arthur shook his head and smiled, getting up from the bed and leaving the room. He walked along the corridor and then down the stairs, the smell of bacon reaching his nose and making him feel hungrier than he was already feeling.

The kitchen was a mess when he looked in; empty bottles on the side ready to be put in the recycling, a frying pan was dumped in the sink (the fat and oils dripping from it starting to make Arthur a little queasy), and an empty bacon wrapper on the counter.

Arthur sighed slightly, walking into the living room to see his mother sitting on the sofa munching on her bacon sandwich whilst watching Daybreak.

"Mum?" he said.

Liz turned around and smiled at Arthur, swallowing her food quickly before talking. "Hello, Sweetheart," she said. "No Alfred today? No college?"

"No," Arthur muttered. "No, there was a fire scare and the systems completely wiped out so they've let us go early for half term…"

"Oh?" Liz said, looking up at her son. "A fire scare?"

Arthur nodded and rubbed his arm. "Yeah… It wasn't anything major; just a chemical explosion in the Science block."

"Huh…" Liz said, putting it very simply that the conversation was over with now. Arthur looked at her for a moment, standing still and silent as he looked at her bored expression. It took him a moment to get the feeling into his limbs again, too consumed with a pain in his chest at that moment. He went to the kitchen and made some toast for himself and Peter quickly, looking around as the boy rushed downstairs with his backpack and into the kitchen. He took the toast and waved to Arthur as he started to eat, the older boy watching as his brother left the house and went to school without another word.

Sniffing slightly as he tried to keep himself from crying, Arthur rubbed his face and went back upstairs. He walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower before stripping from his boxers and stepping under the warm water.

It was a welcome relief to have that moment of privacy, finding that in the shower was the only place he could really cry and release his feelings without fear of being judged. He was slowly beginning to feel like all of this was his fault; his father had left after he had come out, his mother started drinking after that, his whole world was slowly shrinking. One person he knew he still had was Peter, but he didn't want him to become as isolated as he was.

Then there was Alfred…

He knew that Alfred still had the choice of leaving, and it hurt his chest more as he thought of the American leaving him too. He wrapped his arms around himself and curled up at the bottom of the shower, sobbing against his knees as he tried to expel all of the horrible feelings building within him.

A year.

In one year his whole world had been shattered in ways that he could never ever come to understand, and slowly it was being put back together. But the people doing that were leaving, and it was shattering him all over again.

Not even the damn ghost had done as much damage as the people around him, and it was those closest to him that were meant to protect him. Not reject him.

Unaware of how long he had been in the water, Arthur eventually shook and hiccupped into silence. He swallowed slightly as he carefully stood up, rubbing his arms as he turned the water off. Carefully, he got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, turning to the kitchen sink and brushing his teeth silently. He listened to the soft sound of the water running again, rinsing his mouth out before walking back to his bedroom.

Looking through his wardrobe, he grabbed an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt; putting them on with one of his new jackets before sitting on the bed and putting on some socks and his trainers. He looked at his reflection in the mirror in the mirror as he walked past again, sighing softly before going downstairs and grabbing his house keys and phone.

Without another words to his mother, Arthur walked out of the front door and shut it quietly behind him; looking around his surroundings and taking a deep breath before walking in the direction of the public gardens.

He didn't care for Francis' warning anymore, he wanted to find out what had been going on, he wanted answers.

Plus, he wanted to be away from his house for a while. That thought went through his mind as he walked up the long pathway towards the gardens; the fact that he never called where he lived his home, it was always his house. A home was somewhere that you felt loved and welcome, a home was warm and comforting, somewhere that you would want to go back to. A house was just a place somewhere stayed, a roof over the head of a homeless person.

With a sigh, Arthur shook his head and carried on up the pathway, looking around at the trees as he did so. He looked across the road at the whole in the bushes, the place in which he caught his first glimpse of Willow. He could still remember it as if it were yesterday, but, with every urge in his body wanting him to go to the area and investigate more, he continued towards the public gardens.

Confusion spread across his features as he looked at the sight outside the gates of the gardens; a whole group of people rushing inside with signs and chains, screaming and chanting at the top of their voices. Arthur hurried over, spotting Lovino and Antonio stood watching the incident too.

"Lovino, Antonio," Arthur called, running over to them. "What's going on?"

"Protests, mi amigo," Antonio replied, not taking his eyes off of the scene before him. "Construction work…"

"Those bastards at the council are trying to knock down the Witch's Hut because it's structurally unsound," Lovino said, looking at Arthur. "The protesters are trying to stop it happening because it's an landmark of the town…"

"They can't knock it down…" Arthur said. "That'll…"

He froze, his eyes widening and his throat constricting. Francis had warned him that Willow was going to return, that something was going to happen in the gardens for it to come into fruition. Antonio looked at Arthur, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Arthur?"

"We are in trouble…" Arthur said.

"Why?" Lovino asked.

"If it gets knocked down… Willow will be freed, and I can guarantee she'll be after us again…"

"But we got rid of her…" Antonio said, watching as Arthur got his phone out of his pocket and text someone quickly.

"It's a cage," Arthur said. "Just a cage."

"You mean, she's still in there?" Lovino asked, paling slightly as he remembered that evening.

"Yeah…" Arthur said, looking around as he saw Alfred, Matthew and Gilbert running up towards him. Alfred still had his phone in his hands, an almost frantic look on his face as he made his way over to Arthur.

"What do you mean SOS at Gardens?" he asked, looking between the 3 boys stood in front of the gates.

"The council are planning to destroy the Witch's Hut," Arthur said, rubbing his arm slightly as he tried to hide his nerves.

"What?" Gilbert exclaimed, looking past the gates as the chanting got louder. Without another thought, they all ran into the gardens towards the protests, watching as the group held up their signs and chained themselves together.

They moved aside as a big beefy man marched over to the group with police back-up, his face red with blood pressure and hints of sweat on his brow.

"ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH," he bellowed, the protestors falling silent for a moment. "YOU HAVE 2 DAYS TO MOVE FROM THIS SPOT OR WE WILL BULLDOZE THROUGH YOU!"

The protestors glared at the man but stayed standing strong, none of them paying attention to the group of boys stood watching the scene.

Arthur turned away from them, rubbing his arms and sighing. 2 days. 2 days and then Willow would be free. He had no idea how long he would have after that, but he was determined to find out about the manor still. If he could just find out her secrets then he may be able to find a way to stop it.

His eyes widened slightly as he looked towards the trees.

Francis was stood watching them, and he didn't look happy.

_**Notes:**_

_**Sorry for the weeks delay. I had my first week back in college again and needed to adjust again. :] Either way, I hope you keep reading this story. Everything will start making sense soon!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Five**_

Arthur stared at the figure in the trees, knowing full well that the spirit was staring right back at him. He was unafraid though, having too much experience with these beings before. And besides, this spectre was much different than any of the others he had encountered in his past.

Looking to the others and noticing them all focused on the continuing protests by the Witch's Hut, Arthur separated himself from them and walked over by the trees.

"Francis," he said, looking the French boy up and down.

Francis was deathly pale with a look of disappointment on his sunken face. Arthur had never seen such an expression on the boy's face, but understood why he would act in such a way.

"Arthur, I can't believe you actually came here," he said, pushing his limp hair behind his ears. "I fucking warned you, did I not? Why did you come back here?"

"Because I have to know the truth," Arthur said, looking at Francis determinedly. "I understand the risks; you have to understand that I really do. I may not have died as you had but I almost did."

Rubbing his face slightly, Francis looked around and over Arthur's shoulder. He watched with what Arthur could just about make out as sadness, his eyes roaming over his lost friends and how close they were to what could easily be described as a weapon of mass destruction. Arthur was almost shocked by the stoic expression on the French boy's face; despite his normal animosity towards him he didn't like it.

"Arthur," said Francis, not looking at him. "Take them and leave. I don't want any of you to join me here…"

Arthur looked back at the others before looking at Francis. "Francis, what is so awful about being here still? Surely you have to be able to go where you want, do what you want. You seem pretty solid to me."

Francis chuckled slightly, Arthur smiling a little as the old pervert seemed to return a bit. "There would be some perks like that," Francis said. "However… I am a different case…"

"What do you mean?"

"Look closer at me, Arthur… I have no heart…"

Arthur blinked, watching as Francis lifted his shirt and revealed his torso. It was paler than everything else, his ribs showing through his almost translucent skin. However, the most shocking aspect of the sight was whole in his chest above where his heart should be.

"Francis…"

"She pushed her hand into my chest, through my ribs and crushed my heart," Francis said. "That's not exactly the kind of thing you'd want anyone to find when you want to fuck, is it?"

"I didn't-"

"Arthur, what you do not seem to grasp is the complete seriousness of this situation," Francis said, his expression darkening once more. "Willow wanted you. She followed you, haunted you and lured you into an almost fatal trap. She has a history in this area. I have learnt more about her in this past year than you can ever hope to understand, so please believe me when I tell you it is better for you to just stay away from the woods all together!"

"Francis, I wish I could," Arthur said. "But there are answers here that I need to understand. You may have had a year, but that doesn't mean that I can't understand what's going on. I have to. Alexander and Raymond were murdered by this woman, but she has a deeper history that stretched before she even met them. I know that something is going on, and if it can lead to a way to end all of this once and for all then I am willing to do anything to get what I need."

"What about your family and Alfred?" Francis asked. "If you get killed, they'll be the one's picking up the pieces. Alfred will be devastated. Do you really want to break his heart by getting yourself killed?"

Arthur looked at Francis for a moment longer before turning away and looking back at the group by the Witch's Hut. He watched as Alfred talked with his brother and the others, his heart sinking slightly. Alfred was still so unaware of what was happening, of the dangers he was willingly going to put himself back into. He felt selfish and stupid, but at the same time it didn't seem to matter.

Nothing mattered anymore.

It was as though in those few seconds he stood staring at his lover and his friends, everything lit up and he understood.

It was only because of the American that Arthur had friends. If he hadn't have opened himself up to him when they were little, if he and Matthew had not sat so close to him in the playground on that very first day of school then he would be completely isolated.

The shocking thing to him was that he still felt isolated. His mother's voice rung through his ears, her bitter threats and insults, the slurred tones of alcohol taking over her system and turning her into something worse than Arthur had ever encountered. The woods seemed more welcoming to him in those days more so than his own home. He was still able to stand by his earlier thoughts; a house doesn't become a home unless you feel truly welcome there.

The only person that made him feel welcome was Peter, but soon he would become bored of him too. The boy was fourteen, an age when one starts to grow into their own person, becomes independent and starts to live their life in the way that they want to. Peter had always wanted independence, the want to be recognised as his own person and he was finally at the age when he was able to do that on his own. He would no longer need Arthur to hold his hand or protect him; he'd be able to do that on his own.

Then there was Alfred.

Arthur couldn't even start to think about everything he loved about Alfred, because he knew that at some stage he would forget him too. He would leave him in the lurch, abandon him and cast him aside like an old magazine. He'd be old news. Nothing for anyone to worry about.

"I won't matter to anyone much longer," Arthur said, not looking away from the group. "I have been gone for ten minutes, Francis, and not one of them has turned around or noticed that I am gone. It's starting already. I'm not welcome in my home. My father left. Everyone will leave, Francis, and then what? What do I do?"

"They won't forget about you, you idiot," Francis said, moving over to him and placing his hand cautiously on his shoulder. Arthur shivered at the cold feeling but for once did not throw his hand off. Francis realised then just how deep-seated his friend's fears were. "Alfred loves you more than anything in the world. Can you not see that? Peter looks up to you so much!"

Arthur looked at the ground and took in a hollow breath. "I'm going to find out the truth, Francis. About the manor, Willow, her family, you, everything. I'm going to find out why my family is cursed by this woman."

Francis sighed; knowing now that if he hadn't been able to change his mind in the last ten minutes, there was no way Arthur was ever going to change his mind. "I will make sure that you are protected if you ever come back into these woods," he promised. "When Willow returns-"

"There will be no safe place for me," Arthur said, finally turning and looking at his friend. "She came to the school remember? She was in my back garden during the storm on Halloween. She can get me anywhere in this area and there is nothing that I can do to stop her unless I find out what is happening."

"Arthur?"

Looking around, both boys noticed the group had finally realised that Arthur was not amongst them once more. Arthur looked at the panicked expression on Alfred's face as he turned in circles and tried to search for him in the crowd or by the trees. Smiling a little, Arthur looked up at Francis again.

"I'll see you again, Frog," he said, smiling more as the French boy chuckled.

"It's been a year since I've heard that," Francis smiled. "It's surprised me how much I've missed that."

Arthur chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder before walking out into the opening. He ran over to the others and tried to make himself look less suspicious by smiling slightly.

"Arthur, where did you go?" Alfred asked, hugging the Briton close to him once he had got back over to them.

"I thought I saw something in the woods back there, but it was only a bird," Arthur said, hugging Alfred back. He felt the American tense, so looked up at him in confusion. He noticed the look of concern suddenly adorned on the boy's features, his own eyes widening slightly in surprise. "Al?"

"You're not lying are you?" he asked, the others now looking at Arthur with the same expressions.

"No," Arthur said, looking Alfred squarely in the face. "I am not lying to you."

Alfred stared back at him for a moment before smiling and nodding. "Okay I believe you."

Smiling, Arthur kissed his cheek then looked at the others. "So, what are we going to do now?" he asked. "Because I for one am starting to get bored of these woods. There's nothing that we can do about that hut but prepare for the possible eventuality that Willow will return. However, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have some fun before that actually happens."

Antonio chuckled and put his arm around Lovino. "We were actually going to go have dinner with Lovino's grandfather, Feli and Ludwig."

"Mattie's teaching me to play hockey!" Gilbert grinned.

"Okay, so we're not going with Maple and Moron," Alfred said, knowing all too well how vicious Matthew tended to get when he was playing hockey.

"Oh, fuck off, Alfred," the Canadian said, rolling his eyes at his brother.

Arthur laughed and waved as the group split off and left the park, turning his attention to Alfred who put his hands on his waist and smiled.

"So, what are we going to do then?" he asked, pulling Arthur slightly closer.

"Can we go to your house?" Arthur asked, looking up at Alfred. The American nodded and held Arthur's hand, walking out of the woods with him and back down the long hill.

"So… why have you been acting weirdly lately?" Alfred asked, looking at his feet as he walked; concentrating on the stones he was kicking instead of Arthur for that moment. Blinking slightly, the British boy turned his head to look at his boyfriend in surprise.

"What do you mean?" he asked, tensing slightly as the subject started to get a little too close for comfort. He kept a complete poker face as his expression, making sure that he didn't betray himself in any way that Alfred would be able to tell; he really didn't want Alfred knowing his plans, even if it meant keeping a dangerous secret from him.

"You've been… different," Alfred said. "Every time someone mentions your mom you go weird. There have been times I've tried to start, you know… and you've pushed me away. I saw you with a bruise on your face one time and then a cut on your arm another. I'm worried…"

Arthur blinked in complete shock having not expected that to be the secret Alfred would pick up on. Although he did suppose that with the bruises, Alfred (despite his inability to read the atmosphere) would pick up on such little details as bruises and cuts.

"C-can I tell you when we get to your house?" Arthur asked, holding Alfred's hand tighter in the way that showed that he was really going to tell him what was wrong. There were some things that he could really trust Alfred with, and he hoped that this would be one of them. Alfred finally looked at Arthur, nodding slightly and putting his arm around his shoulders.

"Sure," he said, pulling him gently in the direction of his home. Together, they walked up the creaky wooden steps as Alfred pulled his keys out of his back pocket and unlocked his front door. They walked inside, Alfred dropping his keys into the little dish on the table beside the door and kicked his shoes off. Arthur took his shoes off too before the pair walked through the small hallway next to the staircase and Alfred peaked into the living room to check if his mother was home. She usually worked at home, the woman working for as a graphics designer. She only really went out when she needed a new brief or was required for a meeting, and it seemed that that was the case at that moment.

Alfred walked into the living room and picked up a note from the coffee table, reading it and smiling slightly.

"Mom says hi," he chuckled, Arthur smiling softly and watching him set the note back down and walk to the large door in the back of the room. Alfred opened it, sliding the door aside and walking into the den and then further into the small room that connected with their garage. He came back into the living room after a few moment holding two cans of Coke, one diet and one regular, and handed Arthur the silver can with the low sugar.

"You'll rot your teeth," Arthur said, opening his can and taking a sip.

"Whatever," Alfred chuckled, leading Arthur out of the living room again and up the staircase. He took a sharp left and went into his bedroom, flopping onto his bed and turning on his CD player letting the sounds of The Beatles play softly into the silence. Arthur smiled and sat on the bed beside him, listening to the background music fondly as it was from the CD he had created for him for his birthday a while ago. "So, are you going to explain to me what's been going on?"

Freezing suddenly, Arthur remembered that he had promised to explain everything to Alfred. His heart started to beat a mile a minute, his hand shaking slightly. "I…"

"Arthur…"

"M-my Mum…"

Suddenly more alert, Alfred sat up again and looked at Arthur, watching as the boy seemed to shrink slightly and look at his lap. "What's wrong?"

Arthur couldn't bring himself to speak, simply putting his can down quickly, gripping hold of Alfred and sobbing against him. Alfred, shocked and confused, put his can down and held him close; not really understanding what had gotten Arthur so upset.

"Shhhh," he said soothingly, smoothing Arthur's hair.

"She hates me," Arthur said, still crying but somehow able to keep his voice quiet and even.

"No she doesn't," Alfred said. "She's always nice when I'm there."

"She's sober and able to hide it when you're there," Arthur countered. "She's homophobic…"

"What?"

"She makes comments about gays and me and not wanting Peter to be like me," Arthur said. "She makes comments about you… She thinks you can do so much better than me… She said I was close to being a girl anyway… She hates me, Alfred… Ever since Dad left she's been getting worse and worse… She drinks almost every day… and sometimes… she gets violent…"

Alfred looked down at him slowly, not liking this conversation one bit. "She what?"

"She's hit me before… Thrown stuff at me… That bruise on my face was her…"

Frowning, Alfred wiped the tears from Arthur's face. "I'll talk to her," he said.

"No."

"But, Arthur-"

"No, Alfred," Arthur said, looking up at him desperately. "It's only me she hits, but if anyone else finds out Peter and I will be taken into care. Peter doesn't know about the hitting but… he's scared we'll be split up. Either that or we'll be sent to Scotland to live with my Dad. Please, Alfred… Don't do anything… I don't want to leave…"

The desperate expression on Arthur's face almost broke Alfred's heart, the American wrapping his arms around him and holding him against his chest. "Okay…" he said reluctantly.

"C-can I stay here tonight?" came Arthur's small muffled voice. "Peter's staying at his Latvian friend's house and…"

"It's okay, you can stay," Alfred said, kissing the top of his head. "My mom wanted to share some things with you anyways."

"I feel more at home here than I do my own house…" Arthur admitted quietly.

"You can stay whenever you want to," Alfred said, tilted Arthur's head up to look at him. "Okay? If it gets too tough at home, no matter what hour, just call me okay? Or just come over. I'll be there."

Arthur nodded, leaning up slightly and kissing the American chastely on the lips. "I love you, Alfred."

"I love you too, Arthur," Alfred smiled. "And no amount of prejudice or judgement will ever make me change my mind."

_**Notes:**_

_**Oopsie. One month gone. Sorry guys. I would have updated sooner but I was getting so caught up with other things that this story seemed to just blend into the background… I should be getting more updates done soon though because it's Easter holidays now so I have two weeks out of college! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story. Was that first bit FrUK? I'm not sure… Oh well, more shall be explained soon and you will all become aware of why Willow is the way she is.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Six**_

Alfred's house was somewhere that Arthur could stay all day. Not simply for the company, but for the whole atmosphere the actual building seemed to resonate.

The building stood along in the street, surrounded by a large garden back and front. The house held a front porch on which was a swing-chair swung gently in the breeze in front of the front sitting room. Large looking trees stood firmly in the grounds, large and sad looking but holding some form of comfort in the dangling willows.

Around the back of the house, just past the back porch, was a large swimming pool with a diving board and slide. They had an old swing set build and positioned so that the boys could swing into the pool. More trees stood tall, the leaves seeming to weep into the pond near the pool that held a dozen koi fish.

The building itself was a tall strong structure with ornate windows and doors, some of which held seats for the people to sit and look out into the streets or the back garden. At the back of the house were two rooms on either side of the stair case; a spare bedroom that currently held all of the families Christmas and Halloween decorations, as well as cleaning supplies. The other room was a large, bright spacious kitchen with a dining table next to the windows which had a view of the back garden.

On the other side at the front of the house was another sitting room, one that held a comfy sofa by a fireplace and a large piano. Many times had Arthur come by to find Alfred sat playing on its keys, the American surprising him the first time by being very good.

On the first floor there were four rooms; a bathroom, two bedrooms and a spare room that held old boxes that the family hadn't opened since they had moved into the house.

Arthur liked the attic the most though.

The attic had been converted into an extra bedroom, one that Alfred had claimed as it had a balcony on the front and back. Alfred's room was large and open with big windows, sunshine pouring in on good days, stars shining in view on clear nights, and the sound of rain pattering against the tiles and the glass on bad days. On the back balcony, as it was the larger of the two, stood a telescope that Alfred had set up so he could look at the stars. Naturally, the boys used it to spy on neighbours occasionally, but they were careful to never get caught.

Having spent the entire day with Alfred, Arthur was now sat on the American's double bed staring out of the large window beside him. The sky had darkened since they had last gone out, rain pouring down heavily. Arthur couldn't help but watch every last individual raindrop as they slid down the glass, turning his around reluctantly as Alfred came back up into the room carrying two mugs of hot chocolate.

"Thanks, Alfred," Arthur said, taking hold of his mug and blowing on the liquid. He took a tentative sip, trying not to burn his lips on the scolding hot liquid.

"No problem," Alfred smiled, sitting down with him and setting his cup on the table beside his bed to cool it. "I'd have made you some tea but I don't like it so it was easier to make something I knew we both liked."

"It's okay, Alfred," Arthur said, chuckling before pecking his cheek. "Really. You're making me feel calmer than I have in a long while…"

Alfred put his arm around Arthur once the British boy had set his mug down too, pulling him slightly to lay down with him on the bed. Arthur looked at him confusedly for a moment before resting his head on his chest and hiding his face against him.

"I still don't like that you kept that from me," Alfred said, wrapping his arms around him and kissing the top of his head.

"I'm sorry…" Arthur mumbled. "I just… I couldn't say anything… If word had got out, Peter and I would be sent away to live in Scotland with our father and I couldn't bear to leave you…"

"But why would you get taken away?" Alfred asked. "You never did explain that to me…"

Arthur took a deep breath and swallowed the lump that was growing in his throat. "She hits me, Alfred. She hits me and throws things at me… That along with the mental stuff… She drinks… a lot… I have to make Peter's lunch when he can't or give him money to get stuff at the school… I'm scared, Alfred… Really, really scared…"

Alfred held him tighter, resting his head on top of his. "You won't have to be scared anymore, Arthur," he said. "I promise. I will be here whenever you need me."

"I know, Alfred," Arthur replied, closing his eyes and listening to the rain. More thoughts travelled through his mind, ones that deepened the anxiety that was building in his chest. Alfred still knew nothing of Francis being around, that Arthur had talked to him. He knew nothing of Arthur's plans to go exploring in the forest again, of the manor house that could hold even more secrets. He knew nothing of Arthur's plans. Nothing at all. He didn't know that Arthur was putting himself in danger again, that he was being so very reckless in the face of adversity once more.

Shaking his head, Arthur sat up once more and smiled. "Come on," he said. "You said to me that your mother had something she wanted to share with me."

"Oh yeah!"

Getting up quickly, Alfred grabbed hold of Arthur's hand and led him back downstairs. Arthur followed him, looking at all of the photos that donned the walls of the large house; the images spanning decades and telling the story of the family. There were elderly people that Arthur didn't know, images of Alfred's mother and his father, pictures of him and Matthew growing up in America, Canada and the UK. Arthur saw himself in some of the images, smiling as they finally got downstairs and looked around for Amelia.

They found her in the sitting room, sat on a window seat and looking out at the rain. She was holding a mug filled with steaming coffee, a distant look on her face. Alfred went over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, the woman looking round at him and smiled.

"Hey, Sweetie," she smiled. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Mom," Alfred said, smiling back. "You had something to tell Arthur didn't you?"

Amelia nodded and looked at Arthur. "You've not seem right lately," she said, Arthur looking at her confusedly. "I've noticed things."

"Like…?"

"I know, Arthur," she said. "Liz is my friend. Don't you think I'd realise when something's wrong with her?" Arthur looked down at the floor so Amelia got up and wrapped her arms around him. "Darlin', you have nothing to worry about," she said, holding the back of his head as he lent it on her shoulder. "I saw the bruises on your arms… I know she's done things…"

"Please don't tell…" Arthur said, tears starting to build up in his eyes.

"Arthur, I have to get her help," Amelia said, smoothing his hair.

"They'll take Peter and me away…" he said. "Please…"

"No one is going to take you away," Amelia said. "I promise."

Alfred watched them, not liking the sight of the tears on Arthur's face. He hated seeing the boy so broken, but knew that his mother was right; someone needed to know, they needed to get help. "Mom… Can't they stay here? We have the spare room for Peter and Arthur can stay with me… I don't mind moving the boxes downstairs! I don't want him to leave!"

Arthur looked at Alfred then up at Amelia, the woman looking between the pair before nodding.

"Yeah," she said, smiling. "You don't remember my job, do you Arthur?" The boy shook his head so she chuckled. "I'm a social worker; that's why I knew the signs and that's how I know you won't be taken away."

"You'll really let us stay?"

"Of course," Amelia smiled. "I'll take temporary custody of you and Peter. I'll make sure you stay in my care until your mom is better again."

"Thank you," Arthur said, hugging her tightly. "Thank you so much."

Alfred smiled at them, moving from the room to get the phone. "Artie, do you know the number of that Latvian kid your brother's gone to stay the night with?"

"I'll call her, it'll be easier," Arthur said, smiling a little and moving to get the phone. Alfred shifted aside and went to stand with his mother, letting Arthur dial and wait for the line to be picked up.

"Hello, Toris! Is my brother there? He said he was spending the night with Regina. If he's spending the night with her like that then I'll kill him," said Arthur, waiting for a moment before Peter came on the line. "Peter! Uh, we're going to be staying at Alfred and Matthew's house for a while. Why? Well, their mum's a social worker… and she knew about Mum. She's going to make sure we're together here. I, um, also need to tell you something… It can wait though. You know where they live right? Yeah, that's it… Tomorrow, come straight here. Don't go home. I'll get all your stuff. See you tomorrow…"

He hung up the phone and looked back at them, smiling at them slightly. "Do you want help moving those boxes?"

"Actually, I can do that myself," Amelia smiled. "You boys go ahead and get Arthur and Peter's belongings. I'll be along later to explain it to Liz."

Alfred looked at his mother and blinked. "Are you sure? I don't mind."

"Alfred, go help your boyfriend," Amelia said, shoving his shoulder gently and grinning.

"So, you really are okay with us?" Arthur asked her timidly, both American's looking at her in surprise.

"Of course I am," Amelia said, but then it dawned on her. "Your mother isn't, is she?"

Arthur looked down and shook his head. "The one thing she always says to me is that she doesn't want Peter to turn out like me. I mean, I know one day every parent would like a grandchild… and I can't exactly give her a biological child… But Peter, if he does like Regina in that way, can… I can't help who I love. I just do. But she can't see that…"

"Oh, Arthur," Amelia sighed, moving over and hugging him again. She kissed the top of his head and smoothed his hair, Arthur tearing up again at the first bits of maternal affection he'd received in a long time. "Darlin', you and Alfred go get all your stuff and you come back here. I will make sure I have a nice hot dinner waiting for you when you get back, then I'll go round and talk to Liz. Okay? I want you to feel at home here."

"Okay," Arthur said, wiping his eyes and composing himself again. He and Alfred got their shoes on, Arthur grabbing his coat whilst Alfred put his bomber jacket on. The American put his arm around the British boy and led him out of the house, the pair running as fast as they could towards Arthur's house. It was as if the rain was sensing the tension around Arthur, pouring down heavier as they ran along the streets; the water splashing up around them as their feet made contact with the path. Arthur stopped as he got outside his house, staring at the building. Alfred looked at him, the heavy rain not fazing him for a moment as he concentrated on his boyfriend.

"It'll be fine, Arthur," Alfred said. "Even if she is… Well, you have me with you today. She won't do anything."

"You don't know that, Alfred," said Arthur, not taking his eyes off of the building that had held so much pain for him in the past year. "She is a bitter woman… so bitter… If I go in there… she will do something… She has to. It's in her nature now."

Rolling his eyes, Alfred wrapped his arms around Arthur and kissed the top of his head. "For once, will you stop arguing with me, Arthur?" he asked, looking down at him as Arthur tilted his head up. "Please?"

"I'm sorry, Alfred…" the smaller boy replied, resting his head down on his chest as he teared up again. "I'm so so sorry…"

"I don't care if I have to carry you, we're going inside," Alfred said, smiling a little. "We look like we've gone swimming."

Arthur chuckled slightly and nodded. "Fine…"

Looking back at his house, Arthur took a deep breath before walking up to the front door and pulling his key from his pocket. Alfred stood under the shelter with him, watching as Arthur put his key in the lock and opened the door; both boys rushing inside and shutting the door, acting as though nothing had been planned.

It was in that moment of realisation that Arthur knew that he would have to break the news to his mother, that they'd need a car to move all of the stuff, and that it would be so much more difficult than he had originally thought.

As if seeing the fear break out on Arthur's face, Alfred kissed his head and put his arm around him encouragingly; both of them jumping when they heard a smashing sound happen in the living room.

Arthur ran ahead of Alfred, yelping and ducking as photo frame flew at his head. He looked at the smashed bits of wood and glass, a picture of his family under the mess. Blinking slightly, Arthur looked up as Alfred helped him stand; his eyes turning towards the direction the frame had flown from and spotting his mother stood by the mantelpiece where all the pictures were.

Liz was holding another frame, her fingers trailing over the image that Arthur could make out as himself and his father when he was younger. Alfred pulled him aside as that frame flew at them too; looking at Arthur as he numbly went upstairs.

"Arthur?" he asked, following him upstairs.

"Go to Peter's room and pack his stuff up," Arthur said simply. "There are boxes in the attic you can use… Then call your mother and get her to drive round here… We'll need her car…"

Alfred nodded and went to Peter's room, Arthur walking into his own and looking around. Slowly, he started to pack away his memories, looking at each and every item and finding a story behind them. He boxed and bagged them away, watching as his room became a shell once more; so plain and empty, almost reflecting what he was feeling at that moment.

Once his final box was finished, Arthur looked around as Alfred walked into his room, the American looking around and staring at the plainness.

"Well, I was right," he said.

"Huh?"

"You brighten up wherever you go."

Arthur blinked and blushed, going over and nudging Alfred in the chest. "You are such a cheesy sap," he said, smiling a little. "Thank you though."

Chuckling, Alfred kissed his head and smiled. "Mom is on her way… She'll be here in 5 minutes."

"Okay," Arthur said. "Now to talk to my Mum."

Alfred, though nervous for him, stepped aside and let Arthur walk downstairs; the British boy's hands shaking as he went into the living room and looked at his mother.

Liz was sat in her seat once more, drinking straight from a bottle of brandy. She looked round at Arthur when he walked into the room, unaware of Alfred sat on the stairs just outside the room.

"So you're back?" Liz said, sipping again.

"Not for long, Mum," Arthur said, Liz blinking slightly. "Peter and I are going to live with Alfred's family for a while…"

"No you're fucking not."

"Yes, Mum, we are," Arthur said firmly. "Amelia is a social worker, remember… She knows about what you've been doing…"

Liz rose from her seat and walked over to him, pointing at him threateningly with the neck of her bottle. "No. No, you and Peter are staying here!" she said through hiccups. "NO!" She threw the bottle against the wall, grabbing hold of Arthur with bruising force. He tried to get her off of him, but found he couldn't do it without hurting her; and the one thing that he didn't want to do was hurt her despite all she'd put him through. Liz broke down into tears as a knocking sounded on the door, looking round and spotting Alfred open the door. "NO!" she screeched, letting go of Arthur and heading for Alfred. "YOU WON'T TAKE MY KIDS AWAY!"

Grabbing her arms quickly, Arthur held her back just in time for Amelia to get inside and watch the whole scene in shock. She nodded to Alfred to get the boy's belongings, but Alfred looked at his mother apprehensively, not wanting her to get hurt. But, when she gave him a very stern look, he ran upstairs and started to bring Peter's belongings down first.

Amelia walked over to Liz, the woman have turned on Arthur and shoved him down into the pile of broken glass and wood and alcohol. She put her hands on Liz's shoulders, somehow managing to lead her away from Arthur.

"Liz… I'm getting you help," she said. "You're my best friend; you know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

Liz looked up at the taller woman before completely breaking down. Amelia wrapped her arms around her and looked at Arthur in a way that said 'go get your stuff quickly'. Nodding, Arthur got up, ignoring the blood on his hands from falling, and ran up to his bedroom. It seemed that Alfred had already taken Peter's stuff down to the car and had started on Arthur's, the British boy helping him.

"Arthur… you're hands are bleeding," Alfred observed after picking up a bag.

"Not now, Alfred," Arthur replied, carrying down his box. He tried to block out the sound of Liz's sobbing as he walked outside, ignoring the stares from his neighbours as another car pulled up. He looked at the man that got out, the man nodding to him before walking into Arthur's house. Putting his box in the car quickly, he turned around to see Alfred walk over to him with the last one with a solemn look on his face. "Who was that?"

"A colleague of my Mom…" Alfred replied, putting the box in the car before getting inside himself. Arthur followed him in and clung to him as he finally let his walls down too. Alfred wrapped his arms around him, watching through the car window as Liz was taken to the other car and Amelia shut the front door of the house. He watched as his mother shouted at the people staring at the scene before making her way over to the car, the look on her face softening as she looked at the boys in the back of the car.

Arthur couldn't even stop crying as the car started and Amelia drove them away, clinging to Alfred who could swear he felt the smaller boy breaking.

_**Notes:**_

**Hey! Long time since I updated this again. Sorry about that. I keep on working on other things too. Also, I wanted to make sure I got this chapter right as it was such a touchy topic. I'm sorry if it's wrong in some people's eyes, I know that social care and stuff like this is a difficult topic to work with but I really tried my hardest to get it as accurate as possible.**

**Also, yes. Regina is Fem!Latvia. I've been including Nyotalia within this story as well, and when I tried to find a name for this version of Latvia; and on all of the sites that I found for names, one of the only R (cos the male name is Raivis) that came up was Regina. So, yeah. XD**

**Thank you for reading along with me this far, and I hope you continue to do so because shit really will hit the fan soon! **


	7. Chapter 7

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Seven**_

Arthur couldn't quite decide whether living with Alfred was a blessing or not. He was grateful that he and Peter were being allowed to sleep there, but he soon realised that their body clocks were completely different as were the routines they had in the morning.

He was an early bird; he liked to get up as soon as he woke up, get dressed, eat and then brush his teeth before getting on with whatever he needed to do. Of course he had to include college in that equation at points, but the fact still remained the same.

Alfred on the other hand, enjoyed staying in bed for as long as he possibly could before scrambling to get himself ready. He wasn't good at keeping a routine, but he pressed that the way he went about his business was a routine as he did the same thing every morning.

It was the very same day though and it was just after dinner that Arthur really realised how peculiar the whole experience was going to be. It wasn't that he was complaining, it was simple because he was getting used to the culture shock and the concept that one day Alfred and he would be living together. The idea was starting to scare him a little, knowing that in little over a year they would both be out of college, thinking of university and jobs and living together away from home… Maybe even adopting a child one day…

Little things like that were popping into Arthur's head all evening as he sat by Alfred's side watching TV. Matthew had come home just before it got dark, blinking in surprise as he saw Arthur in the living room with Alfred.

"Hey, Arthur," he said, smiling a bit. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what's going on?"

"He's living here for the time being, Matt," Alfred said, looking up at his brother. "Peter too."

Blinking in surprise again, Matthew sat down on the recliner near the sofa and crossed his legs. "What's happened?"

"My mother is a homophobic alcoholic," Arthur said simply, curling up against Alfred a bit more. The America put his arms around him more and kissed the top of his head, looking at Matthew sadly. The other boy looked completely shocked but moved into the seat beside Arthur instead and put his hand on his arm.

"Arthur… I'm sorry…"

"She's been hurting me for a while…" Arthur continued to mumble, letting his floodgates open once more. He shuddered slightly and sniffed sadly, but somehow managed to keep his voice steady. "Mentally and physically… The bruises you guys spotted before… Cuts…"

"Stop," said Matthew quickly, shaking his head. "You don't have to explain yourself anymore. So, I take it our Mom found out and took temporary custody of you and Peter." Arthur nodded so Matthew smoothed his shoulder slightly. "Well, at least you have Al here to take care of you."

"Damn straight," Alfred grinned. "I'm gonna wait on you hand and foot until college starts up again next week."

"One week of being spoilt by you?" Arthur said, looking up at Alfred who lent down and kissed him softly.

"If you want tea, I will get it for you," he said. "If you want a magazine, I will buy it. Anything that will make you feel better, I will do."

"That's really sweet, Alfred," Arthur said, resting his head on his shoulder again. Matthew smiled and left them alone, looking at them from the doorway for a moment; Alfred was running his fingers through Arthur's hair, the smaller boy closing his eyes sleepily at the motions.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

As the dawn of the next morning broke, a tense atmosphere seemed to settle through the small town. The day had finally come for the Witch's Hut to be demolished by the town counsel, despite the continual protests that had been happening all week.

How Alfred's home was positioned, Arthur was able to look out at the woods from the front balcony that morning. Chants filled the air as the crowds gathered, none of them aware that they were around what was quite possibly a nuclear war head just waiting to blow. Leaning carefully on the wooden railings, Arthur folded his arms slightly as he listened to the cries of the people, at how they were being ignored. He could see the large yellow vehicles getting ready to enter the site and couldn't help but sigh at the stupidity of the whole situation.

But would anyone really listen if he told them? No, they would probably lock him in the loony bin if he went to the site and shouted about a killer ghost.

He looked around as the balcony door opened and Alfred walked outside in only his boxers, smiling fondly at him as he scratched his fingers through his hair.

"Artie…?" he yawned sleepily. "What are you doing up at 4 in the morning?"

"Thinking," Arthur smiled, moving over to smooth his hand over Alfred's cheek. "Go back to bed, love. You clearly need the sleep."

"Are you sure?" asked Alfred, yawning despite himself this time.

"Go to bed," Arthur chuckled, shaking his head as Alfred nodded and went back inside. He turned around and looked out at the woods again, taking a deep breath before following Alfred into the bedroom again. He wasn't going to let a possibility ruin his week off, and the first thing he was going to do was go to the megastore and buy Amelia some of her favourite ice cream as a thank you for letting him and Peter stay with them. After their holiday together the summer before, Arthur had learnt a fair deal about the woman; especially her love of ice cream. Quietly, he got himself dressed then grabbed his backpack from beside Alfred's desk. He took his folder out and moved his wallet to a better place along with his bus-pass, shutting it quickly and heading downstairs. He listened to the sounds of everyone sleeping, smiling a little before heading out of the front door.

The megastore was a good 30 minute walk from Alfred's house, but only 15 minutes by bus. So, to save his already worn down trainers, Arthur decided that it would be more constructive to take a five minute walk to the bus stop. He could hear the bus coming already though so sprinted to the stop, panting a little as the bus pulled up at the moment he got there. Smiling gratefully at the driver, Arthur got into the vehicle and showed off his bus-pass before moving to take a seat next to a button. He looked out of the window as the world went by, smiling a little at the people heading out early to miss the morning traffic on their commutes to work.

When the megastore came into sight, Arthur pressed the stop button; making the **stopping** sign light up and ding. He carefully got out of his seat and walked to the front of the bus, thanking the driver as he got off and walked into the big store. He was surprised by the amount of people inside already but continued to walk around until he found aisle that he had been looking for. He looked through the different freezers until he found the when that held the ice cream he was after, opening the door and pulling it out. He wandered around the store for a little longer, buying himself a bottle of Appleade as he paid for the ice cream at the till. He wrapped the ice cream up in a separate bag and put both into his backpack as he walked to stand to the side to sort his stuff out. Looking at the time on his phone, seeing it to be nearly 9am already, he quickly ran from the store and back to the bus stop.

"No wait!" he called, sighing as the bus drove away without him. "Fuck…"

With a sigh, Arthur looked around for a moment before making his way back over to the pathway and crossing through the car-park towards the main road. He wasn't going to wait for 30 minutes for the next bus so decided that he would just walk the journey back to Alfred's house. Well, his house first; he wanted to tidy up the mess that had been left behind when Liz had been taken to get help. As he walked through the streets, Arthur could see kids from his old school wandering around most likely skiving from lessons that they didn't like. He sighed and shook his head, taking his jacket off as a surprising amount of sunshine broke through the clouds. He looked up as the sky turned blue as the clouds passed; smiling at the heat that finally came down on him. It was odd seeing as it was October, but he didn't care; he simply continued to walk through the streets.

However, as he walked through a small housing area he soon found that the heat was getting to him a little bit more than he had originally thought. With a sigh, he looked towards the woods; it was the back half of the section with the tunnel he had been held captive in. He shuddered slightly at the memory but then looked up at the sky and sighed again; the only ghost in there was Francis because he couldn't move on just yet.

Settled with the idea, Arthur continued in the direction of the woods and walked down the long stone slope and over to the metal gate that separated the garage area from the woods. He climbed over it and walked down the path; heading passed the river grate then the shipping factory that the town held. A couple of people walked passed him on their way out of the woods, one listening to music and the other almost crashing into him as she texted away on her mobile phone. Arthur managed to dodge her in time and continued down the path way. In that area, he had two choices: go the long way through the housing estate or take a short cut along the path in the woods. Choosing the shade of the trees, Arthur walked through the muddy path and into the trees. There wasn't a single noise around him as he wandered along the path, only the squelching of his shoes as he jumped over muddy puddles and plants. The pebbles on the path crunched under his feet and he paused for a moment as he heard a rustling in the bushes nearby. He let out a sigh of relief as he watched some birds fly away, turning around and shouting as he almost bumped into someone.

Francis.

"You idiot!" exclaimed Arthur, holding his chest as he looked up at Francis. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"You are the idiot, Arthur," Francis said, looking at the boy angrily. "You _know_ she is being released today yet you decide that now would be the most opportune time to start going back into the woods!"

"She got into my fucking garden, dipshit!" Arthur said. "Clearly she is going to be able to find me wherever I am."

"THEN DON'T MAKE IT ANY EASIER!" Francis shouted, Arthur flinching slightly as he had never heard him get that angry before. "You are still determined to get to that house aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Arthur said. "I need to learn the truth. It may be the only way to get rid of her!"

"Then you are an idiot…" Francis sighed, shaking his head. "I can't believe you are risking so much on a simple hunch…"

"It's not a simple hunch you ignorant fuck, it's the truth and I need to know all of it," Arthur snapped. "What if this is the way that we can get you to move on? Do you really want to be stuck in this life the way you are?"

"Of course I don't…"

"Then get the fuck out of my way and let me get on…" Arthur said, pushing past the dead boy and continuing through the woods. He heard nothing more as he started to see sunlight again; walking out into the open air and watching cars walk past along the main road. He looked to his right, towards the area that Willow had first made her presence known to him. It seemed a little scary that in a mere four days it would be exactly a year since that incident had happened. He was also a little freaked out that it would be a year since he and Alfred had gotten together in 3 weeks. With a shake of his head, Arthur pressed on towards Alfred's home as his heart started to beat faster; not liking the nervous feeling he got in his gut.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

When Arthur got back to his new home, he headed straight towards the freezer and put the ice cream in as it was slightly liquefied at that moment in time. He sighed softly, knowing that it would be frozen in time for Amelia to have at a later point but then realised that his Appleade wasn't very cool anymore. He got that from his backpack too and put it into the fridge for it to cool off, blinking as he heard heavy footsteps thundering down the stairs.

Turning around quickly, he looked as Alfred all but collapsed into the kitchen so went over to him and helped him up, shaking his head a little as he got him into a seat.

"What the hell were you doing you idiot?" Arthur asked, tilting Alfred's head up and spotting a bruised bump on his temple.

"You were gone…" the American replied, looking up at him and blushing slightly.

"I went to the shops…"Arthur said, smiling a little and carefully kissing the bruise. "I needed to get out for a little bit because I couldn't sleep."

"I was worried…" Alfred mumbled, resting his head against him.

"There was nothing to worry about," Arthur said, hugging his head gently. "I promise. I merely got your mother some ice cream as a thank you and some Appleade for myself."

Alfred closed his and let out a low sigh. "Leave a note or something next time… Please? I worry about you…"

"I'm sorry…" Arthur muttered against the top of his head. "It's a habit…"

"You don't have to do that anymore. You're safe now."

"I know…"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

As the morning turned to afternoon, the household was soon joined by Peter as he came home from school. He was quiet and nervous, but opened up soon enough as Amelia offered to get a big pizza for them to eat that evening. He was soon in his new bedroom moving things as he wanted them and talking to everyone as though he had lived there the whole time.

Feeling rather tired by the end of the evening, Arthur bid everyone a goodnight and head up to Alfred's room alone. He knew that Alfred wanted to watch some confusing movie with Matthew so decided that instead of being awkward he would just remove himself and get some well needed sleep.

He walked into the bedroom and sighed softly, closing the door despite being two floors above the noise of the movie. He didn't even bother with his pyjamas that evening, stripping to his boxers and putting his dirty clothes in the washing hamper. Scratching his head, Arthur looked around and out of the window towards the woodlands again. The night was dark and the stars were out, moonlight shimmering down on the streets and the trees in an omnipresent way that made Arthur feel completely surrounded. He opened the door of the front balcony for a moment and listened to the dying chants of the protestors.

Suddenly, a roar of metal screamed through the air. Voices were drowned out and replaced by terrified screams, then the crunching crash of a stone filled the air.

"AH!" shouted Arthur, clutching his chest as a sharp pain shot through him. All the air was stolen from his body as he collapsed to the floor in agony. It was as though as the Hut was destroyed it caused him a greater pain, tears pricking up in his eyes as the pain got worse. He started to feel sick and light headed and he didn't register that he had been moved to the bed until the pain subsided and he was able to focus on the panicked expressions on everyone's faces.

"What happened?" Alfred asked, sitting on the bed beside him and holding his hand.

"I don't know…" Arthur said, looking up at him. "I just got a bad pain through me… It just got worse and worse until I collapsed…"

"Why?" Peter asked.

"I don't know, do I?" Arthur said, rolling his eyes. He sat up slightly and took a shuddery breath. "It started when the Witch's Hut was destroyed…"

"It's gone?" Alfred and Matthew asked, both blanching at the news. Their faces grew paler as Arthur nodded, glancing at each other in fear.

"She's free…" Arthur muttered, shaking his head.

"Who's free?" Amelia asked, looking in confusion between the boys.

"No one… Arthur's just a little whacked…" Alfred said, making him lie back again. "Get some sleep, Arthur…"

"Yeah…" the British boy mumbled, getting under the covers and curling up. He ignored every other sound as they left the room, but instantly he could feel more than just their eyes on him.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Arthur couldn't sleep all evening, even when Alfred finally got into bed with him and spooned him. He just couldn't relax at all. So when daylight finally broke, he sighed and got out of bed silently. He got himself ready again and wrote Alfred a note saying he had gone for a walk again, then put his shoes on and went downstairs. He could hear everyone resting as the holiday feeling settled again so kept as silent as possible as he walked outside and shut the door.

One of the things that used to calm him was walking past the field next to the woods. Recently it had become the home of a very friend horse by the name of Monty; a tall horse with dark brown fur with a great big white patch on his back. He was very friendly, always going up to the gate as the children walked home from the nearby school.

Smiling slightly, Arthur walked past the woods and around to the gate, smiling as the horse walked over to him. He smoothed his nose gently, smiling as he nuzzled his hand.

"I'm sorry, Monty, I don't have food with me today," Arthur said. "I'll bring some over later, okay?"

The horse nudged against his cheek gently and seemed to nod, making Arthur smile until he realised that Monty's persona suddenly changed. His ears had pricked up and he was backing away, quickly running to the other end of the field. Arthur leaned over the gate slightly to see what had spooked him so badly, freezing as he caught sight of the red hair, grey eyes and dirty white dress.

"Hello again, Arthur."

"Willow…"

_**Notes:**_

**Oh look at that an update and a cliffhanger.**

**OHSHNAP THOUGH.**

**WILLOW IS BACK PEOPLE. WILLOW HAS RETURNED.**

**Look out for the next chapter soon to find out what happens next!**


	8. Chapter 8

**In The Shadows**

**Chapter Eight**

Though he knew that she would one day return, it was still a sickening sight for Arthur to actually see the woman standing before him once more. She was leaning against the railings of the gate keeping the horses inside the field, her red hair falling over her shoulders in a way so familiar that made Arthur's skin crawled.

She had a faint smirk on her face, her right leg crossing over the back of her left leg in a casual manner that would have been mistaken by passers-by as just a boy and girl flirting. She was in control for a moment and she knew that.

"Arthur, you seem so shocked to see me," she said, smiling in a sickeningly sweet way that made his stomach churn. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? You know, it's rude to keep a lady waiting."

"You're no lady," Arthur said, finally finding his voice. He kept his eyes on her carefully, uncertain as to why she was just standing in the field. She had him right where she wanted him so why was she not attacking?

"That hurts, Arthur," she said, clutching her hand to her heart mockingly. Arthur glared at her and went to walk away but heard her tut and follow him. "Arthur, come on, I only want to talk to you! Where would the fun be if I just took you away now? I like a challenge."

"Fuck you, you psychotic bitch," Arthur snapped, turning his attention to her and glaring again. "Why are you even back? Why couldn't you have just stayed dead?"

"Because that hut wasn't designed to just send my soul away, it was designed to hold me," Willow said, putting her hands on her hips. "That land, it holds so much bloodshed because of me. That means that I am tied to that land and there is nothing you can do about it. Now that I am back, I am going to make sure that those friends of yours endure a living hell. You're going to die, Arthur Kirkland. You are going to die and join me, but those friends of yours, that boyfriend; they're all going to burn in hell for eternity. I will make sure that Alfred goes straight into the fire and burns forever. I will rip the skin from his bones, turn his insides out, and rip the heart from his chest. I will shred him and burn him and make sure that everything is slow and painful and that he feels every single second.

"Arthur, when I was locked in the Hut, it was as if the air was sucked from my body. I was thrown in to this deep dark void and I couldn't tell what was up and what was down. I couldn't see. I couldn't hear. Nothing existed. I didn't exist and yet there I was. Nothing made sense, and nothing makes sense still.

"You talk about this boy. This monster that tried to destroy me. Nothing will make sense for either of you soon. I can promise you that. Your relatives will not be able to save any of you this time. You will join me in this life. You will not be able to stop me. Trust me, Arthur. When you get to my side, I will have shredded so much humanity from your soul you'll be joining me in killing those so called friends of yours."

Arthur glared at the woman, walking right up to her and foregoing any of his previous fears. "You will not get close to doing any of that, Willow. I am going to end you once and for all, and that is a promise."

"It's starting already, Arthur," Willow smirked. "Have fun falling from humanity."

Raising his fist suddenly, Arthur's breath rattled in his chest as he watched Willow disappear again. He brought his arm back down, holding his hand close to his chest. He didn't quite understand what was going on in his head at that moment so turned on his heal quickly and ran home.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

The sound of the front door shutting behind him caused Arthur to flinch more than it should have. It was even a loud click of the tumblers. It barely made a noise at all so he was getting rather concerned with the small noises were making him jump more than the louder ones.

Upstairs, he could hear the footsteps of Alfred and Matthew most likely. There was definitely more than one person moving around up there but he didn't really pay that much attention. He looked around in the living room for a little bit before finding his laptop under the sofa. He couldn't remember actually putting it under there, figuring that Alfred must have used it at some point as he always puts things away in obscure places.

The device was taking for too much time to load in Arthur's opinion. He stared at the blank screen as it flashed through all of the different things it needed to, the screen remaining dark for a few minutes before it finally loaded onto his login screen. Typing in his password quickly, Arthur glanced over his should his shoulder to make sure that no one was about to walk in on him.

He wasn't even sure why he was acting so jumpy about this thing. It wasn't as if he was about to go looking for porn, just a simple little map that would lead him directly to the Manor House on the other side of the woods.

Google Maps was probably his best bet. He could get an aerial shot and work out the route for himself. At least that way he was certain of where he was going. It had to be soon too. Willow was determined to kill them all. She would succeed too if Arthur didn't act fast.

"Where are you…?" he muttered to himself, searching through the maps he had collected from the website. He was flicking over them, grinning a little as he finally found the Manor House. "Now, the entrance is here and-"

"Arthur?"

Jumping half a mile out of his seat, Arthur clutched at his chest as he looked round behind him and saw Alfred stood in the doorway. The American was looking at him in complete surprise, not expecting him to react in the way he had. Then his eyes saw his computer screen.

"Arthur, what are you looking at? Is that the woods?" he asked, looking back at Arthur who looked like a deer in headlights.

"Alfred, I can explain…"

"Go on then," Alfred said. "Cos I am very interested in hearing why you are planning a trek through the woods."

"T-there's a manor beyond that graveyard we found last year," Arthur said, looking back at the screen instead of looking at his boyfriend. "Frontum Manor…" he quickly opened the document he'd saved and read aloud to him, "_Frontum Manor was the largest manor house in the southern coastal area of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The garden area was once a large haven for wildlife, but it was soon cut into thirds when the main roads were placed in. Since then, the grounds have been over grown and turned into Public Gardens and an animal sanctuary. Another third was turned into one of the primary schools in the area._

"_However grand the manor may seem, the tale around it is one that holds much confusion for historians._

"_The house has only had one known family in its residency. In the late 1800s, the manor was owned by the wealthy Eden family; consisting of George Eden, Mary Eden and their young daughter, Willow. However, the house still remains in the possession of the Eden family despite no other members of their family being registered. No one has been able to get into the house to investigate and the building has been declared abandoned._

"Don't you see, Alfred? 'Their young daughter, Willow'. Willow! That's around the time that she killed my ancestors! All her secrets lie in that house and I know where it is! If I can get there and find out what is going on, what she's hiding, why her family hasn't extended since that time… Alfred, I can put an end to this before she-"

"Before she what, Arthur?"

"Before she kills you all," Arthur said, looking down slightly. "I went out earlier and she found me by the other woods. In the horses field. She promised to kill you slowly and painfully… Everyone… She said she'd strip so much humanity from my soul I'd torture you too… I don't want that to happen, Alfred. I can't let that happen. And if going through the woods to find that building will save us all then so be it."

"No, Arthur!" Alfred snapped, looking at him angrily. "No one is going to that house! It's way too dangerous! What are the odds she doesn't already know what your little plan is? You could get killed before you even step foot into that house! What if the house itself is a trap? Hmmm? Think about it! You are going into her territory! Alone by the sounds of it! Were you ever going to tell me about this? You only did today cos I caught you! How long have you been planning this?"

"ALFRED I AM DOING THIS TO SAVE US ALL!" Arthur shouted, putting his laptop and rising to his feet. He looked up at him determinedly and angrily. "DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THIS IS? HOW EASILY SHE COULD KILL ME?"

"THEN WHY GO?"

"BECAUSE I WON'T BE ALONE!"

"WHO ELSE WOULD BE WITH YOU?" Alfred said, freezing for a moment. He blinked a couple of times then looked at Arthur hurt. "Who…? You've told someone else about this? Who do you trust more than me on this? I fucking saved your ass the last time and you plan to go back with someone else?"

"Alfred, it's not like that…" Arthur said, reaching forwards. Alfred shifted back though.

"What the hell is going on in here, eh?" came Matthew's voice as he entered the room next. "What's with all the shouting?"

"Ask Arthur," Alfred said. The Canadian looked to the British boy who seemed to have shrunk in the last 30 seconds. Arthur explained everything to Matthew, ignoring the little comments Alfred made every so often.

"So, Willow really is back and you may have a way of stopping her?" asked Matthew, trying to sort it out in his head.

"Yes," Arthur said. "I have to go to the Manor House-"

"You're not going alone," Alfred said. "Hell, no one is going!"

"Alfred, are you a hero or not?" Matthew snapped, looking at his brother. "If this could end this problem once and for all… Then we all have to go. My eyes and ears means a better chance of survival."

"That didn't work for Francis last year did it?" Alfred countered.

"We didn't know what we were dealing with last year," Matthew said. "Arthur, let us help you. Please."

Arthur looked between them for a moment, unsure how to answer. He looked to Alfred sadly, the American looking back at him and sighing. He wrapped his arms around him and kissed the top of his head.

"Please, Arthur, let us help," he said, holding his face gently and wiping some tears away.

"Okay…" he replied. "I don't like it, but okay."

_**Notes:**_

**Sorry for the delay again… I am getting so bad at updating but hardly anyone reviews anymore. To be honest, I can't remember when my last review was… They help spark enthusiasm as it shows someone wants to read…**

**Anyway, sorry for that…**

**I had a little bit more planned for this chapter but decided it fit in better for the next one so this was just a quick filler chapter to bring Willow into again.**

**Anyway, I hope you review and fave and stuff again. It means a lot.**

**And to anyone who is still reading and doesn't have the… I guess the word is confidence in this sense… Well, reviewing and stuff would be nice. Thanks to everyone still reading and I will update again soon.**


	9. Chapter 9

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Nine**_

He wanted to know who Arthur trusted more than himself.

It was the one thing that kept playing over in Alfred's head as he laid in bed with the boy and watched him sleep. They had decided to turn in once the argument was over, the American noticing that his boyfriend was looking more drained than he'd seen him in the year they had been together. He knew that he was being more than a bit techy with the subject, but he really couldn't stop the feelings pouring out him.

Arthur had talked to someone else about his plans to find the manor; he had trusted someone more than he had trusted him. In fact, it seemed as though Arthur didn't trust him at all with it. He wasn't going to tell him that he was going on this suicide mission, he only knew about it because Arthur had been careless with the laptop and got caught in the act.

With soft sigh, he started to run his fingers through the Brit's hair; Arthur nuzzling into his bare chest and holding onto him. Continuing the motion, Alfred kept his eyes on the smaller boy, trying to find some answers on his finally peaceful face.

It seemed that recently the only time that Arthur did look peaceful was when he was sleeping. It was as though he had disappeared to a different world inside his head, a world where his mother wasn't an alcoholic, where his father was still at home, where he was actually loved. Shaking his head, Alfred kissed Arthur's head softly and held him close.

Of course Arthur was loved. He loved him. His mother must love him a maternal way in some sense if she had let him stay there. His brother, though at that stage in life that he loved to annoy him, had to love him if he was his only life line against a drunken mother. Arthur must have felt so alone though.

He was being hurt and stalked by something that was far from any of their wildest nightmares yet he had kept quiet about it. Why didn't he say anything? Why did he resign himself to suffer in silence? Surely if he had trusted Alfred as much as he had been professing to do so he would have confessed everything to him, sought solace in his embrace and talked to him.

But that's when it dawned on Alfred.

With all of this, Arthur had been trying to protect him.

The smaller boy was and had experienced such traumatic pain for an entire year; he had been butchered by a murderous ghost in search blood and companionship, and then abused mentally and physically by the one woman that he was truly supposed to be able to rely on. He didn't say anything to Alfred because he didn't want him to go through that pain too.

"You're such an idiot…" he whispered, kissing his head again. Arthur nuzzled against him again, tilting his head so that it was resting on his chest above his heart. "We could have protected each other… I'd protect you until my last breath…"

He went quiet as Arthur shifted, looking down at him as Arthur's head tilted up. His eyes opened slightly, looking up at the American half asleep.

"You're an idiot too," he said, smiling a little.

"You heard me?"

"Yes," Arthur said, nuzzling his jaw. "Alfred… I know you'd want to protect me forever, but there are just something that you can't…"

"But the things that have happened I should have…"

"No, you couldn't," Arthur said, looking at him with an expression too serious for someone half asleep. "If you'd have known you wouldn't have been as happy as you were whenever I saw you. I needed that happiness. I needed that goofy smile you get when I say something you like. I needed you."

"And you have me," Alfred replied. "I'm sorry I shouted at you earlier…"

Shaking his head, Arthur shifted up a little and kissed him softly. "You had every right to… I was being a fool. He told me I was… but I didn't listen, so for that I am truly sorry."

"Who told you that you were being a fool?" Alfred asked, looking at him confusedly.

Arthur now looked properly awake, his eyes widening slightly as he realised what he had just said. "Alfred… Uh… Now, don't freak out please…"

"I'm starting to…"

"I-It was… Francis…"

Alfred looked at Arthur for a moment, his face in a state of absolute shock. "Francis? As in… As in, our friend who was murdered by Willow last year, Francis?"

Nodding, Arthur took in a deep breath. "He was there at the fire at the college… Then he sent me emails on the computer… And he showed up in the Public Gardens when we watching the protestors by the Witch's Hut… In the woods on my way home… He's stuck here Alfred…"

"You're not joking are you?"

"Why would I joke about something like this, Alfred?" Arthur asked. "There is a homicidal ghost loose in the woods and two of her victims came back to help us last year. This time it seems Francis needs help."

"Was he who was going to go through the woods to the manor with you?"

"Yes…" Arthur replied. "He knows where it is and thought I was an idiot for wanting to go alone so said he'd stay by me and let me know if Willow was coming…"

"So Francis needs help moving on?" Alfred asked, trying to get his head around it.

"Yes… He's lost, Alfred… He's solid and heartless… I mean, he has this great gaping hole in his chest where Willow-"

"I get it," Alfred said, cutting Arthur off before he went into all the gory detail. "Okay. We still need to plan this out properly but we'll do it."

"Thank you, Alfred," Arthur smiled. "I need answers… and I need to help him…"

"Let's just get some sleep, okay?" Alfred suggested. Arthur nodded and lent against him again, smiling as Alfred's arms wrapped around him. "I love you."

"I love you too, Alfred."

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

As the holiday progressed, the three teenagers gathered their friends together once more and spent their time out in the back garden of the American-Canadian household planning. All details were finally being shared from Arthur to the others, stuff about Willow, the manor, the history of the home, and that Francis was out there somewhere in need of help.

There was a little septicity around the subject of Francis, as Arthur had never really gotten along with the French boy but Arthur managed to calm down all the speculations about it. He explained how Francis was out the woods; the condition he was in and how badly the situation was affect the French boy. He explained that despite their arguments they were still friends, and that no one really deserved the fate that the older boy had been served.

After a few mutters in multiple languages, the agreement had been made. They were going to go back there on the anniversary of the French boy's death in order to help him finally move on and to end Willow's reign of terror once and for all.

However, the first thing that was forming in their minds now that the planning was over was the simple matter of having a good time before they entered the warzone. It was an ironic type of fun that they were planning now, mainly a Halloween party.

Amelia, who had brought out drinks to the boys, had agreed that they could have the party at that house as it was the largest one in the area. The catch was that they had to clean up any mess they made straight away or face the consequences the next day.

Having agreed to the terms and conditions, the boys set about planning the party; i.e. other people to invite, food and drink, music and costumes.

Alfred had decided on the theme for the party other than a Halloween style; they had to come dressed as superheroes or supervillains from either the Marvel universe or the DC universe.

"So, who are you going to dress up as?" Alfred asked, flopping on to the sofa beside Arthur who was watching Iron Man in an attempt to start educating himself to the superhero genre.

"I have no idea…" Arthur replied. "Name characters you know please… Just to give me an idea…"

"You realise that's a lot of character's right?"

"Just guy characters!" added Arthur. "I'm not cross-dressing."

"Fine," Alfred chuckled. "Iron Man, Iron Monger, Whiplash, Mr Fantastic, The Human Torch, Thing, Dr Doom, The Silver Surfer, Captain America, Red Skull, Spider Man, Dr Octopus, Venom, Green Goblin, Superman, Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Doomsday, Batman, Robin, Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler, Anarky, Bane, Black Mask, Blockbuster, Two Face, Hulk, Wolverine, Omega Red, Hawkeye, Thor, Loki… and so many more."

"Aren't Thor and Loki Norse Gods?" Arthur asked, looking at Alfred in confusion.

"Only you would pick out that," Alfred said. "Yeah, they are based on Norse Mythology characters but they are Marvel comic characters!"

"That is so random…" Arthur said.

"Let me tell you about Tom Hiddleston…"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

It took them a little while, but Arthur was finally able to pick a costume. After Alfred's little explanation, Arthur had taken a look at the film Thor and decided that he would actually dress up as Loki. It was amusing to him as Matthew had decided to dress up as Thor for the party, the pair entertaining Alfred as they got ready by actually pretending to be the two characters.

"I say thee nay!" Matthew said, pointing at Arthur.

"You're always saying thee nay, naysayer!" replied Arthur, both playing up to their characters as Alfred laughed.

"You guys!" he said, holding his ribs. "Guys… that's from Super Hero Squad! Stop it!"

"NAY!" they both shouted at him, grinning as he left the room with the bottles of drink.

"I think we're going to break him by the end of the evening," Matthew said, grinning at Arthur.

"I think so too," Arthur replied, chuckling as he took the cups into the living room. "Alfred, aren't you going to go get into your costume?"

"I am, I am!" the American replied, hurrying away from them again before he started to cry with laughter. Matthew put down the two bowls of sweets down on the table before sitting down on the sofa to wait for his brother.

"He always has been an exhibitionist," he said, looking up as Arthur chuckled.

"Matthew, you are wearing sleeveless armour and a cape," he said. "If that's not for Gilbert's benefit then…"

Chuckling himself, Matthew shook his head and pointed his foam hammer at Arthur. "If thou doth want to keep thy head, thou better zip thy lip."

"I could hit you with that hammer," Arthur said. "That was almost as bad as Alfred."

"Twins, eh?" Matthew grinned.

"Fuck there are two of them…"

"Two of what?"

The two boys turned around and chuckled as Alfred walked into the room, taking in his costume. Red, white and blue, a round shield, a large A on his forehead…

"Batman, you've change colour," Matthew said.

"I'm Captain America!"

"It was sarcasm, Alfred," Arthur said, rolling his eyes. He went over and kissed him chastely, looking him up and down. "It's a very… flattering costume…"

"Thanks," Alfred grinned.

"See, what I mean? Exhibitionist!"

"Shut up, Thor!"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

A few hours later, the party was in fool swing. Music was blaring from speakers beside the TV; people were dancing, laughing, drinking and eating. Some people had brought round sweets and drinks themselves, supplying more treats for everyone as well as pranks for the rest of the evening.

Bedroom doors had been locked so that no r-18 activity would happen in anyone's beds, but that didn't stop some people from going outside to do things.

It seemed as though the main source of the free feeling in the building was the alcohol that the teenagers were consuming, as even Arthur was letting Alfred press up to him in such suggestive ways in front of everyone.

Finishing off the last drop of liquid in the bottle he had, Arthur threw it away before looking up at Alfred as he grabbed his waist. He smirked as the American looked down at him heatedly, allowing himself to be pressed against the wall. Alfred's lips pressed firmly down on his, Arthur kissing him back just as fiercely. He opened his mouth as Alfred did the same, tongues clashing as they battled for dominance over the kiss.

However, just as it was starting to get heated, they jumped apart as a loud crashing sound happened by the door.

"ARTHUR! ARTHUR, HELP!"

Sobering up suddenly at the sound of panic, Arthur looked round to see Peter run into the room with a look of fear on his face. Behind him, the boy's friends Marcello and Regina were carrying their terrified cousin Mia into the room.

"Mia…" he muttered. "JETT, GET OVER HERE! Peter, what happened?"

Peter looked as Jett Kirkland, Mia's older brother and their cousin, hurried over to help his little sister before looking at Arthur. "There was a girl in the woods," he explained. "She attacked as and hurt Mia's ankle!"

"A girl in the woods?" asked Jett, carrying his little sister to a seat to check her ankle out. "What did she look like?"

"She had red hair and grey eyes!" Marcello said.

"And she was in this tatty grey dress!" Regina said. "It was all torn up and dirty! And she had no shoes!"

Arthur blanched and looked at Alfred, the American gulping slightly before nodding.

Maybe waiting was a bad idea…

_**Notes:**_

**Was this rushed? **

**Yeah.**

**Again, very little amounts of inspiration coming my way at the moment so I'm sorry that this chapter sucks!**

**Anyway, characters:**

**Jett – Jett Kirkland is our lovely Aussie. Yes, he is Australia and he will be in future chapters too!**

**Mia – Mia Kirkland is the little principality of Wy. It's in the Australian Commonwealth so I figured for this story she'd be his sister. I do picture a father-daughter relationship in other AUs though.**

**Marcello – Marcello Vargas is Seborga!**

**Regina – Regina Galante is Fem!Latvia. **


	10. Chapter 10

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Ten**_

Mia's crying was the only sound that registered with anyone as the teenagers dispersed from Alfred and Matthew's home. Jett was refusing to leave but was finally convinced by Arthur to take the 14 year old girl to the hospital to get her ankle checked out. The Australian boy wasn't very happy, as he could tell just by looking at the ghost of fear in Arthur's eyes that he knew more about this woman in the woods than he was telling them at that moment.

Peter helped make people get out of the house, Arthur noticing him kiss Regina on the cheek as she left to run home through the dark. The older boy rubbed his temples, looking at Jett who was knelt beside Mia still.

"Jett, you really ought to get her to the hospital," Arthur said, walking over to them. "I'll call Aunty Vicky and let her know what's going on…"

"Nah," Jett replied. "Mum's a nosey old bat… She'll ask why your Mum's not called her in ages, figure out what's happened and then try to get involved…"

"Right," Arthur said, rubbing his arm. "Maybe you should call her then…"

"Arthur, I want to know who this woman is and why she hurt my little sister," Jett said, looking at Arthur with steely determination. Arthur hated the look, he knew that Jett had perfected it for many years to make himself seem more intimidating that he actually was; and most of the time it actually worked.

"Jett… My ankle really hurts!" Mia sobbed, drawing her brother's attention back to her. Jett sighed, torn between beating the information out of Arthur and taking care of his little sister.

"I promise you, Jett," Arthur said. "I'll explain to you what's going. I'll tell you everything if you just take care of your sister now!"

Thinking it over for a moment, Jett nodded and picked Mia up onto his back. He glanced at Alfred who was stood with folded arms watching from the doorway before walking past him and out into the streets to get his sister to the hospital.

Matthew shut the door after them, motioning for Peter to go into the living room before himself and Gilbert. Alfred walked over to Arthur as the British boy flopped onto the sofa with a heavy sigh. He wrapped his arms around him carefully, everyone sobered up by the sudden shock.

"So, Peter… What happened out there?" Matthew asked as he sat down with Gilbert. Peter looked between the two couples before sitting down too.

"Well, we wanted to scare Mia and Regina…" Peter said, looking at his lap. "You know… get the girls scared so they stay close to you… Uh, it was working until that girl walked out of the trees. She just stared at us… Well, me… And she said something like… 'Raymond's eyes' before lunging at us… We ran and the girls were screaming… Then the ground cracked and Mia caught her foot at an angle and fell down… I ran back to get her but the girl was there."

"What happened then?" Arthur asked, sitting up in his seat more.

"I didn't mention it before because Mia was hurt worse…" Peter said, glancing up for a moment. He stayed silent at their confused expressions and simply opened his shirt slightly near the top. He pulled it down slightly to show the top of his chest, just above his heart; showing off something that made the older boys blink in surprise.

Four long, red scratches ran across the skin above his heart; thick and swollen as if they had inflamed at the mere touch of the woman's hands. Arthur rose to his feet and moved over to his little brother, kneeling down and looking at the wound on his chest closely.

"I am ending this before anyone else gets hurt," he said, rising to his feet. He was furious. How dare she? How dare she do that to his family? How dare she try to make that evening all those years ago happen once more?

Raymond had been lured into her clutches and murdered, then his older brother Alexander had been used as bait and murdered by her. He was not going to lose his brother as they had lost each other.

"Ending what?" Peter asked, drawing Arthur from his thoughts with a bump. The elder looked at the younger, blue eyes meeting green. Arthur knew that he owed his younger brother an explanation, some kind of reasoning for the attack just now and further to Francis' death and why he was in a coma the previous year. He could tell that the younger could see something ticking away inside his head, so sighed softly and sat beside him.

"Things are going on that I can only just explain," Arthur said, looking at his brother seriously. He found that for once he had his full attention so continued. "What's been happening is because I've been trying to protect you… and you know how much I've had to protect you over this past year…"

"Is this something to do with Mum?" asked Peter quietly, the colour slowly draining from his face. Arthur shook his head.

"No, Peter," he said. "It's nothing to do with Mum… I'd explain now but… Jett is owed an explanation too after what just happened to Mia… So if you would be willing to wait until tomorrow morning I promise you that I will explain everything to you then. Saves me having to go through it twice…"

Thinking for a moment, Peter nodded slowly. "Okay, Arthur," he said. "I'll wait…"

Clapping the 14 year old on his shoulder, Arthur stood up and smiled a little at him. "You should go to bed. Start getting back into a routine for school."

In a rare moment of normalcy, Peter flopped back in his seat and groaned. "Nooooooo," he complained. "Fuck school."

"Just go to bed, Brat," Arthur said, refraining from smirking.

"Jerk," Peter said, poking his tongue out at his older brother before hurrying to his bedroom and locking himself inside.

Arthur shook his head, rubbing his temples slightly before turning back to his boyfriend and friends. They were all looking at him with slight smiles, Arthur smiling a little back. He watched as Alfred got up from his seat and went over to him, leaning into him as his arms wrapped his smaller frame. Though he would never admit it, he enjoyed being held like that by Alfred; he was like a giant shield from all his problems, and despite it making him feel that much smaller, it made him feel safe and secure to have someone like Alfred.

Kissing the top of his head, Alfred ran his fingers through Arthur's already messy hair and smiled as he watched his eyes flutter shut for a moment. He knew Arthur only reacted like that when he was really fighting sleep, so nodded to Gilbert and Matthew to go to bed or do whatever it was they wanted to do. The pair nodded and left the room quickly but quietly, leaving Alfred and Arthur alone in the living room.

The Brit looked up at the American, eyes tired and troubled. Alfred didn't like seeing Arthur look like that; it made him look like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, the pressures of so many people. But if he thought about it hard enough, then it was obvious that Arthur did of the lives of the people in the area in his hands. He was the one who had an idea of how to get rid of Willow all together, he was the one she wanted and would slaughter crowds of people in order to get…

"I'm scared, Alfred…"

Blinking slightly as he was drawn out of his thoughts by Arthur small breaking voice. He looked down into Arthur's eyes, seeing the tears that were threatening to slip and break him.

"It's okay to be scared…" he replied. "Just as long as you know you're not alone."

Arthur's tears started to slip but he nodded. "Please… don't ever leave me…" he whispered. "I… I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you…"

"I'm not going anywhere," Alfred said, kissing him softly on the lips. He felt Arthur kiss him back, the tears rolling down his cheeks slipping across their lips, salty and bitter. He pulled back softly, wiping the tears away softly with his thumb. "I love you, Arthur Kirkland, and nothing will change that. Not ghosts, not parents, not arguments."

Smiling a little, Arthur kissed him again and took his hand. Alfred got the hint and led him up to his bedroom.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Arthur couldn't touch his breakfast the next morning. He felt a little sick with nerves as he waited for his cousin to show up and for his brother to actually get out of his pit. Alfred was making himself a bacon sandwich, the smell starting to nauseate Arthur further as the meat was fried before him. Leaving the kitchen quickly, he went to sit out on the window seat in the sitting room and opened the window so that he could get some fresh air.

Taking in deep breaths, Arthur closed his eyes and swallowed thickly. He hated feeling as ill as he did, but he knew that it was simply the nerves of having to explain and relieve everything once more to two of the people he never wanted this experience to befall.

"Arthur, are you okay?"

Jumping slightly, Arthur looked round at Matthew and Gilbert who were stood in the doorway.

"Hung over?" smirked Gilbert, who then flinched as Matthew elbowed him in the ribs.

"No, I'm nervous," Arthur said bluntly, looking out of the window once more. He could see Jett walking up the path towards the house, but he could also see the woods nearby. He could see Willow stood leaning on a fence, looking in Jett's direction. Silently, he willed Jett to pick up his pace. Thankfully, the Australian hurried up to the house of his own accord and knocked on the front door. Matthew went to the door and let him in, leading him through to the sitting room where Jett looked at his older cousin.

"Well, what's going on?" he asked.

"Come and sit down," Arthur said, rubbing his temples. "We need to wait for Peter."

Nodding slightly, Jett sat down on the stool beside the piano and twiddled his thumbs. He looked round as Alfred joined them with his sandwiches, shaking his head a little and sighing softly.

It was another 10 minutes before Peter finally came into the room, scratching his fingers through his damp hair having had a quick shower to wake himself up.

"Okay, so explanation time?" he asked, looking round at them all.

Arthur nodded and motioned for Peter to sit down too, glancing at Alfred as he sat beside him.

"Well?" asked Jett.

Taking a deep breath, Arthur avoided looking at his family and merely spoke to the floor. "About 100 years ago, there was a woman who lived on the outskirts of this town. She was the daughter of the last family to own the manor house in the public gardens but when they went 'missing' she started living in the cottage that everyone calls the Witch's Cottage.

"Around the time she started living there, men started going missing around the town. No one could explain it, but they knew somehow that it was related to the arrival of Willow Autumn. At the time, the ways to find the men or even the person responsible were so poor that no one could make a solid connect…

"Until a boy called Raymond Kirkland was involved…"

"Kirkland?" they both asked. "He was related to us?"

Arthur nodded. "Raymond saw her struggling with a basket in the street. It broke so he went to help her. He took it back to her house where she then poisoned and… and ate him. She ripped through his skin into his chest and stomach… She was remorseful for his death though as he only wanted to help her, whereas the other men she'd killed had wanted her body… That didn't stop her dumping his mangled corpse in the street. He was found just up the road from where our house is, Peter.

"He was found by his older brother, Alexander. They knew then when Raymond's friend said he'd gone to help Willow, but it couldn't be proved because 'how could such a small delicate girl do that much damage to a large male'? Raymond was laid to rest in the graveyard in the public gardens.

"A year passed and our family still wanted justice. Men continued to disappear but not as regularly. So Alexander volunteered to be bait in a trap on the 5th of November, one year exactly after Raymond died… He went to his little brother's grave, and whilst he stared at the stone Willow came to him. She talked to him before luring him into a… into a tunnel in the middle of the woods near our home. She did the same to him, but made him slowly bleed out instead of the quick death Raymond had."

"The townsfolk found them though. They dragged Willow away and drowned her in the lake. She thought will the magic she could, the sky turning grey and a storm blowing fiercely. They killed her though and built the Witch's Hut to hide her remains…

"Last year, on Halloween, I first saw the Autumn Witch. Alfred and I were trick or treating and whilst he was at a house getting sweets I was leaning on the fencing by the woods. I heard a branch break so turned around and saw a girl in the trees. She was deathly pale, with a dirty grey dress. She reached for me but Alfred showed up and she disappeared. We went home.

"But then a storm started during the night. Alfred saw a shadow of girl on the wall but when I checked outside I saw no one there. But then lightning flashed again and her hand moved onto my shoulder…

"We pretended it never happened until an accident in the Science labs. We were tripped over and our experiment blew up. But her face was in the smoke for a moment.

"Then on my birthday… We went camping in the woods. We explored through the forest, finding the graveyard where tombstones of Raymond and Alexander lay growing mould… But then Alfred and I found… we found Willow's tombstone… It was covered with willow moss, something that grows over the grave of a witch…

"We went back to the campsite, but then Francis went missing… We went out to look for him but Feliciano found the corpse of Ludwig and Gilbert's cousin Horatio.

"I wandered away from the group after that… I went into the woods. Raymond was there… His ghost… He talked to me, but when he went away Willow showed up… She… She took me to the tunnel and made me started to bleed out slowly… I could barely keep on my feet and ended up collapsing into the water… Raymond and Alexander came to me… They pleaded with me to stay awake, but I was failing… So Raymond, because he looked exactly like me but with blue eyes, hurried to get help whilst Alexander stayed with me.

"He brought Alfred to me whilst the others were getting attacked. I passed out though from the blood loss… I remember snippets of Alfred and the others fighting her… Alfred getting hurt… But I managed to tell them that to trap the Witch she had to be locked in the hut…"

"We managed to lure her accidentally into the hut," Alfred said. "But by the time we got back to Arthur, he was already in the coma… That's why he was in the hospital all that time, Peter, that's who did it. The woman who attacked you all in the woods."

"But if she was trapped then how did she attack the other night?" Jett asked.

"The Witch's Hut was demolished the other day," Arthur said. "Recently… Francis' spirit has been coming to me… He's been in the woods, at the college… He can't move on because she killed him so brutally… I'm not sure if Raymond and Alexander have properly moved on…

"Anyway, he's going to help us get to the manor in the forest to find out what happened to Willow's mother and father… They never left and no one ever bought the house, so the key to finding Willow's end would be there. But it'll be dangerous… Willows out there… She's waiting…"

Silence followed the recollection, Arthur looking at Jett and Peter's stunned expressions. He was afraid of how they'd react, that they'd call him a liar or get angry but slowly they both nodded.

"I'm helping you," Jett said. "No arguments; I want this bitch for hurting my sister."

"Me too," Peter said.

"No," Arthur said sharply. "Jett… You can come, you're 17 soon you can fend for yourself… But Peter… You're not even 16 yet. It's too dangerous."

"But-"

"Peter, trust me…" Alfred said, gaining his attention. "We're going to need help from the safety lines. Your help. Chances are we'll need professional help and you'll be able to send it."

Peter looked at him for a moment before looking to his lap and nodding. "Okay… I don't like it, but okay…"

"When are we going?" asked Jett.

Arthur glanced at Alfred before looking back at his cousin. "We were planning to go on the 5th, but now this has happened… We have to go as soon as possible."

_**Notes:**_

**Long time, no update :] Sorry… I'll try and my hardest to be more regular once more. I'm sorry if this absolutely sucked, I'm sorry if you don't like Jett, but I hope you look forward to the next chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Eleven**_

"I really don't see how this plan is going to work…"

Gathered around in Alfred and Arthur's bedroom on the top floor of the house, the boys had invited all of the people that would be going with them on their mission into the woods round. They had chosen Alfred's room because it was the furthest away from his mother's ears and they would be able to feign indifference if she were to come upstairs and ask what they were all talking about. They had been discussing the plan to go into the woods a little earlier but Antonio had been the first to voice his concern.

"I don't see how it's going to work either," Arthur admitted, shaking his head a little and running his fingers through his hair. "Believe me, I wish that we didn't have to do this… You guys don't have to… You said you would though and I can't force you to change your minds…"

"Oh, I still want to go," Antonio said. "Francis was one of my best friends so I'm not just going to sit back on the side-lines whilst his killer is out there and attacking people again. What I can't see working is… is going earlier…"

Arthur chuckled a little and nodded. "I can see that," he said. "But think of it this way. She'll be expecting us to go on my birthday. The anniversary of it all. She wouldn't be expecting us to go earlier, right? And if we just walk past the woods a couple of times saying about going on my birthday and what area we would be going to first, then we should in theory be okay."

"In theory," Antonio said.

"Yes, in theory," Arthur said. "With someone as clever as Willow is, we have to take into consideration the fact that she will be aware that we may be taking another trail. So, we lay multiple trails. All of them are wrong though. That way, the one we are taking won't be covered by her."

"And which trail are we taking?" Lovino asked, looking around at everyone else. "There are going to be 9 of us going…"

"Trust me," Arthur said. "For once, just trust me. The river leads across the road and into the field across the road from my house. Now, the one with the cows in is a private field; I learnt that the hard way when the farmer shot at me for going in there… But there is a public trail behind it. It's a very large open field, tall grass and a fair few trees. We'll be able to hide if needs be and be able to split up and still end up in the same place. All you have to do is travel South-East and you'll be heading in the direction of the manor."

The boys shifted slightly as Arthur got to his feet and went over to his backpack, the boy rummaging inside until he found the folder that he had put together about the manor and the family that had once owned it. He sat back down and pulled out all of the documents, laying them out and sharing them with the others.

"Look, this is what you've got to look for," he said, pointing at the picture of the manor. "Now, it's in the middle of the woods so is most likely overgrown, mossy and damaged. But, it's a little way behind the graveyard so if you get to there then just keep walking…"

"Who are they again?" asked Jett, pointing at a family portrait; an old one with faded sepia tone and torn edges.

"That is the Eden family," Arthur said, pointing to each member in turn. "George, Mary… and Willow."

"I thought Willow's last name was Autumn," Alfred said, looking at Arthur in confusion. "Cos of the Autumn Witch name."

"It's easy to change one's name isn't it?" Arthur countered, looking at the picture of the girl that was so sickeningly familiar. "Willow Eden went missing along with her family but that doesn't mean that she was gone entirely. No, Willow Eden moved to the little cottage on the outskirts of the woods and changed her name to Autumn. Everything started in that manor house and that's why we need to make our way there. Francis told me that it's the one place he's been able to get to and not have her able to get in. Once we're inside we should be safe from her."

"What's to say we'll be safe from anything on the inside though?" Feliciano pointed out. "You said yourself no one's been in that house since the family went missing. Who's to say that they aren't still there?"

"That's a risk we're going to have to take," Alfred said, looking at them all. "You guys know how much I hate ghosts and all of that stuff, but if it stops this chaos before it gets any worse… Surely the thought that we will be stopping the pointless deaths of many people."

"That ghost attacked my little sister," glowered Jett. "She's not getting away with anymore."

"What time are we going to be heading out?" asked Matthew, looking round at them all.

"7pm," Arthur said. "7pm tomorrow so I suggest you guys make detours around the outside of the woods to let slip the false trails."

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Sticking to their plans, the boys wandered around the streets at random points of the day following their little meeting, talking about where they would be going for Arthur's birthday and what ways they would enter the woods and at what times. Even Arthur and Alfred went for walks to get themselves sweets and drinks, general supplies that looked like they were simply going for a camp out on Arthur's birthday again. They knew that Willow would figure out that they weren't actually going to go on a camp-out, but they silently prayed that she would be simple minded for once and actually believe them.

By the time the next day came around, Arthur could feel a sick feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. He knew that there was no going back on this plan because there were no other people who would be able to go up against Willow and have a chance of survival. Arthur knew this woman, knew that there was something about the manor that she was scared of. He knew that if he and the others were truly going to be able to make Willow go away then they would have to go into the manor and learn the secret for themselves, or die trying.

Alfred could tell from the way Arthur was moving around the room gathering things into his backpack that he was more nervous about their venture that evening than he had originally let on. But he knew from experience that it was best not to point it out to him as he would either be snapped at or the whole plan would fall through. So, he simply got out of bed and got his own things together quickly and pulled him to sit down with him.

Arthur blinked slightly at the suddenness but allowed Alfred's arms to wrap around him, leaning his head against him as he was held tightly and closely.

"It'll be okay," Alfred said, running his fingers through Arthur's hair in a way that he had learnt relaxed him. "It'll all be okay in the end."

"I know," Arthur replied, closing his eyes for a moment and leaning into Alfred's affections. He took a shuddery breath and opened his eyes again, looking up into Alfred's blue and smiled. "I love you. No matter what happens, remember that, okay?"

"You better remember I love you too," Alfred said, grinning at him. Arthur nodded and smiled more, kissing Alfred back as the American pressed his lips to his. They pulled apart when a knocking sounded on their bedroom door. "Come in."

Tentatively, the bedroom door opened and Matthew poked his head around slowly. They could tell that he was checking that they were decent before smiling more openly and walking inside.

"Gilbert's popped by and said that the other's would be around at 6:30 later to head out," he said, sitting on the edge of the desk. "He also said that they were all spreading their paths around by the woods when they walked past so she should be none the wiser that we're heading out tonight."

"Good," Arthur smiled, shifting on the bed to face Matthew a little better. "Still sure that you want to come with us tonight?"

"Of course I am," Matthew said, rolling his eyes. "Alfred's not going to let you go out there alone and I'm sure as Hell not going to just sit back here and let him walk into a trap."

"You're pretty brave, Matthew," Arthur said. "A lot braver than we give you credit for."

"It's not bravery," Matthew countered. "When family is concerned, well… You only get one twin brother and I'm not willing to lose mine."

"That's so sweet, bro," Alfred grinned, yelping and falling off of the bed as Matthew threw a shirt at him from the boys washing basket.

"You're an ass," he grinned, ducking as Alfred threw the shirt back at him.

"You're a bitch," Alfred grinned back, Arthur rolling his eyes at the pair of them.

"You're both idiots."

"HEY!"

Laughing, the boys all silently agreed that that moment was the happiest they had all been for a long time; none able to pinpoint any moment in recent time when they had really laughed or smiled. As they wheezed in attempts to get the air back into their lungs, they looked around as the bedroom door opened a bit further and watched as Peter entered the room. He looked at them all and rubbed his arm a little.

"Are you sure that you guys know what you're doing?" he asked, looking at Arthur. "I mean… I don't want to lose you too…"

"You're not going to lose anyone," Arthur said, getting up and going over to him. He placed his hands on the boy's arms and looked him square in the face. "You are safer here than you will be anywhere else, and we will be safer when we get to the manor. We'll find the answers, kill Willow and then this will all be over and done with. Everything will go back to normal."

"Normal?" asked Peter sceptically. "No way will things go completely back to normal! We'll still be living here! Mum will still be in some home somewhere getting medicated and shit! Dad will still be in Scotland with that woman and her son! Things haven't been normal since you got out of that coma last year!"

"Okay, poor phrasing…" Arthur said, looking down a little. "But you know what I mean! There will be no ghosts harassing anyone anymore. Well, none that we have to worry about."

"Okay…" Peter said, rubbing his face slightly. "So, if I get a text tonight I have to call the hospital right?"

"That's right," Arthur replied. "If you get a text from any of us saying that someone is hurt then call for an ambulance."

"At least I can be some help…"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

When darkness fell the boys were suddenly aware that there really was no going back on their plans. Slowly, Alfred, Matthew, Arthur and Peter were joined by Jett, Mia, Regina, Marcello, Lovino, Feliciano, Antonio, Ludwig and Gilbert; all by 6:30 as they had said. Arthur was confused by the sudden appearances of Regina and Marcello though.

"Sleepover with Peter," Lovino explained. "That's what we told Grandpa at least…"

"Si, we thought it would be safer if Marcello came to stay with Peter and Mia while we were gone," Feliciano said. "At least he could stay safe and in the loop…"

"Regina?"

"I got attacked too…" she said, looking at Arthur. "I'm not hiding away but I'm not going out there… So, I thought I'd stay with my friends and send help out too if you all need it."

"Fair enough," Arthur said, pointing to a seat when Jett asked where he should set Mia. "So, are we all ready to head out then?"

"More than," said Gilbert, grinning and holding up a torch. "Let's go hunt some bitches, I mean, witches."

"Same difference in Willow's case, to be honest," Alfred said, grinning a little. Ludwig rolled his eyes at them and head outside first, everyone saying goodbye to the younger teenagers and giving final reminders of instructions before following him outside.

The trek through the darkening streets took 20 minutes from Alfred and Matthew's home to get near Arthur's home. They waited around a corner slightly and let Arthur peak round at the nearest entrance of the woods.

"Shit…" Arthur said. "She's there…"

"What? Where?" asked Alfred, looking round slightly too. "No, wait. She's gone." Ignoring Arthur's complaint, he walked out a little further and looked up the street and saw her entering the gate near the very top of the path, far away from where they were going. "We're safe for now. But run."

Not needing any further prompting, the boys ran from their hiding places and ran straight down the pathway, taking a sharp left as they past Arthur's house and down into a half cul-de-sac. Looking round quickly, Arthur led the way down across the playing field next to it and vaulted over the small segment of river that separated the housing from the field that they had to roam to get to the manor. He opened the council placed gate and went inside, watching as the others vaulted or climbed the stepping stones over.

"Now we split up," he said. "Just head in the direction I told you. We'll stick in pairs or threes. Matt and Gil, Feli and Ludwig, Lovino and Antonio, Alfred and Jett and myself."

Nodding, the groups split off and started their treks across the field.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

"Is that it?"

Having regrouped with no incidents, the boys had made it across the field and into the forest once again. They had found each other easily, all making their way through the forest until they found themselves in the graveyard. They were uneasy for a moment as a breeze blew past but pressed on until they got onto a gravel path that lead right up to the manor.

"Yes, that's it," Arthur said, looking at the dark grandeur of the place.

"Well, you made it okay then?"

Gasping slightly, the group (except Arthur) turned around and stared with wide eyes and dropped jaws as Francis stood behind them with folded arms and a uncharacteristic stoic expression on his face.

"Yes," Arthur replied. "Do you know where she is?"

"Far side of the forest," Francis said, smirking finally. "Seems like she thinks you guys are camping out by the lake tonight. So I helped by throwing some voice out there. Seems like we spirits have a talent for impressions and ventriloquism."

"I'm freaking out," Alfred said, shaking his head. "I mean, you said you saw him but…"

"Get over it," Arthur said.

"Not as lively as he used to be is he?" Jett commented, earning a nudge from Arthur. Francis just rolled his eyes.

"I'm warning you now," he said. "You may be safer inside that house from Willow, but I wouldn't stay too long…"

Nodding, the boys took in deep breaths and watched as Francis appeared in front of the door and opened it, taking nervous steps before following him inside.

_**Notes:**_

**Well overdue an update but I'm still going to be a bitch with cliffhangers and stuff :D**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy this still and look forward to more!**


	12. Chapter 12

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Twelve**_

The past grandeur of the building was evident from the minute that they had entered, the first sight causing all eyes to widen. Though decaying from the neglect of age, the atrium of the building was grand and defined – the wood from the front door chipped and fractured from decades of becoming the food of woodworm and the countless storms which had occurred in the time since the Eden family had disappeared, the brass handle and the locks damaged and growing new life, and the black paint – once shining and bold – now frayed as it peeled away from the damaged structure.

The floor beneath their feet seemed to once be a beautiful white marble, now chipped and cracked – some sections allowing weeds to grow in from the soil beneath the foundations. The rug in front of the front door was quickly avoided as the instant someone had put their foot on it; it seemed to come alive – clearly filled with insects and parasites which had been colonising for a century. Floorboards had broken away and those that remained creaked ominously from the added weight as the boys made their way deeper into the atrium tentatively.

Arthur looked around the atrium in slight awe – the manor held more prosperity than he had ever imagined causing him to be baffled as to why anyone would have ever wanted to leave this place. When he thought back to the images he had found from data records of the building, of how the place was shown to glitter on the most special of evenings, how the town would gather on the grounds for celebrations, the sheer majesty of the place was now doubled as he experience it in person – he ignored all of the grime and decay, the life that had taken the place of whom should have been there, simply enjoying what used to be. He walked to the left side of the hall, near the bottom of the stairs – there was another staircase on the right hand side too.

"You're not going upstairs already, are you?" Alfred asked. Arthur looked over his shoulder at him and smiled; a sight with started to make Alfred worry more than he already was.

"You sound as though you are scared, Alfred," he said. "We're in a derelict building with the ghost of our friend with us with a psychotic ghost after my blood and probably yours too. Why should there be any call for fear?"

"I'm more scared that you're not scared," Alfred countered. He blinked as Arthur chuckled, glancing to the others as they exchanged equally confused looks.

"I am more scared than you would probably believe," Arthur said, turning around completely to face the younger boy. "But fear can be your ally or it can be your foe. For me, I am choosing to let it be my ally. It is the best trigger for adrenaline, which I am pretty sure we are going to need a lot of tonight. The more of that you experience, the more energy you get. You're usually the happiest person for miles when you have a lot of energy, Alfred. I'm working with that idea for now… I'm being supported solely by endorphins."

"Just don't do anything stupid…" Alfred said, looking at Arthur complete seriously. He didn't like that Arthur looked so amused by it. "As much as it feels like one, I'd rather this didn't become a suicide mission… or another rescue attempt…"

Arthur chuckled slightly and smiled. "You and I have swapped places, Love. It's not like you to sway on the side of caution," he said, but then he tilted his head and looked at Alfred just as seriously and calmly. "Trust me; survival is high on my priorities list." Alfred seemed to visibly relax, smiling at Arthur a little. "No, I'm not going upstairs just yet. This is but the atrium. From the floor plans I found, the pantry is nearby on the left, the kitchen and dining room straight through those doors underneath the stairs there, and the lounge on the right there. We have plenty to look into down here before we venture upwards."

"You need to loosen up, Mate," Jett smirked, clapping Alfred on the shoulder. The taller nudged the Australian in the ribs – Jett would have retaliated if Arthur hadn't cleared his throat pointedly.

Jett couldn't help but snigger at the scolded-child expression that passed across Alfred's face after Arthur's cough, it was amusing to see the biggest person in the room brought down to his inner child – though whenever Jett saw Alfred those days he was usually acting like an overgrown toddler.

Arthur rolled his eyes before continuing his way towards the parlour. Listening to the creaking of the floorboards under his feet with each and every step that he took. It was like the entire manor was trying to warn him, groaning lowly to gain his attention or to simply tell him to run as far as he could. Eyes were on him the whole time, and the British boy just knew that they weren't only those of his friends – something was in this house, something that Francis was refusing to tell them about.

Once he reached the door, he pulled the sleeve of his jacket down over his hand – the doorknob of the parlour looked as though it was rusting, the golden paint on it corroded and chipping away. Cautiously, he put his hand on it and twisted it carefully, standing to this side of the doorway just in case something decided to pop out at him. His heart was in his throat, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up on end as his nerves started to finally make him feel the fear he should have been feeling much sooner. With a deep breath, he pushed the door, watching it swing open slowly – the hinges groaning with reluctance.

The boys all yelped as a scurrying sound happened, holding their chests as the backed away from the door only to see three mice run from the inside of the parlour. Alfred looked over to Arthur, the smaller of the pair having pressed himself against the wall in shock.

They laughed when they realised how they had just reacted – and to a trio of mice of all things. Nerves were definitely getting to them, the paranoia whispering to them and making them hear things that they weren't sure were there or not.

Shaking his head once he had calmed to ironic little bursts of laughter, Arthur stepped away from the wall and carefully poked his head around the doorframe.

The room was fairly small compared to the atrium, and from the looks of it the room connected to the far end of the kitchen. Arthur concluded that in this instant that map had been wrong – this wasn't the parlour but the pantry.

"Why is there so much mouldy bread in here?" Alfred asked, walking inside slowly after Arthur.

"This is the pantry," Francis said, entering the room after Jett – he was popping up around everyone, the group having split up in order to explore better. "It is where they stored food items and utensils. So, naturally you're going to find some mouldy bread…"

"Oh, great, we've been joined by Casper the Bitchy Ghost," Alfred said, rolling his eyes. Francis folded his arms and looked at Alfred more seriously than he had ever done when he had been alive.

"Being dead and stuck in this state does that to a person," the ghost snapped. "I don't have to be here fucking helping you idiots, but you all have a greater chance of joining me here like this if I don't. So, I suggest if you want to make it to your 18th birthday, you quit acting like an ass."

Blinking slightly, Alfred deflated a little and looked away from the ghost, choosing rather to look over at Arthur to see what he was doing that whole time. Arthur wasn't even focused on the arguing that was going on behind him, his sole focus being the environment that they had just entered. He walked around the room, looking up at the cabinets on the walls and the higher shelves that he was far too short to reach. Even from behind Alfred could tell that Arthur would be looking at them determinedly, most likely making a mental plan to climb up onto the units and lower shelves to get a better look near the top.

Seeing that that was an accident waiting to happen, Alfred went over to Arthur and put his hand on his shoulder causing the smaller boy to look up at him in confusion.

"Don't even think about it," the American warned, Arthur's confusion seeming to double at the statement. "I know you, Arthur. I know you're thinking about climbing up to the see the top shelves."

"And I thought he couldn't read the atmosphere," Jett smirked, raising his hands in defence as Alfred shot him a glare.

"Who are you and what have you done with Alfred?" Arthur suddenly asked. Both Alfred and Jett looked at the British boy in surprise, Jett especially not liking the question as he didn't know whether Arthur was joking or if there really was something wrong with Alfred.

"What do you mean?" asked Alfred as the taller regained his voice once more.

"You're not acting like you," Arthur replied. "You're being too serious. Last year you joked."

"Last year I didn't know what we were walking into," Alfred countered. "Last year, my telling you to relax and ignore it got you into a coma. Last year, Francis got killed because of all of this. So, I'm sorry if I'm not acting like I usually do but with how you've been acting lately – like a man who has nothing to lose – one of us has to be serious about this!"

"Don't you think I know how fucking serious this is?" Arthur snapped. "I didn't want you or anyone else to come with me. I'd have happily gone through this alone and dealt with this by myself. So don't you dare fucking try to turn this around on me because this is the last thing I wanted to happen!"

"It's not your duty to deal with this psycho!" Alfred snapped.

"YES IT IS!" Arthur shouted, his hands balling into fists. "She fucking chose me. She chose my family and she even tried to attack my brother. It is my fucking problem to solve whether I want it to be or not. I know what she is capable of, I know the story, I know where to look, who to find and find out what needs to be done. The story was told through my family for years and now it's come true.

"And a man with nothing to lose? I could lose you, my friends, my brother. I've already lost my mother – she chose alcohol over me. I've lost my father – he chose that woman in Scotland and her son over me. None of this is fucking fair, Alfred. None of this should have happened, but it is and I'm dealing with it in the only way that I can so just don't fucking tell me what I'm acting like or try to blame it on me. I fucking know I'm cursed."

Jett stepped back and watched them, glancing at Francis as the dead-boy shook his head and floated away. Once the shouting had died down, he walked back over to the pair and stepped between them slightly before anything else could start.

"There's nothing in here," he said. "Let's just go through to the kitchen?"

"Yeah, let's…" Alfred said, walking past the cousins and opening the door that led them through to them through to the next room. He didn't even look back as he walked through, Jett glancing at Arthur who was looking at the floor the entire time. With a sigh, he put his hand on his cousin's back and gently edged him to follow Alfred, looking around the further mould growing on the items left in the kitchen.

"This is totally sick," Alfred said, finally looking back at Arthur and Jett. When he saw Arthur's sad expression and how he was keeping his eyes on the floor he sighed softly and walked over to them. "I'm sorry…"

"I asked for it…" Arthur replied.

"We both did but that's not the point," Alfred replied. "I shouldn't have made it seem like I was blaming you. I'm really, really sorry."

Glancing up at Alfred, the smaller boy smiled up at him a little and nodded. "I'm sorry too."

"Great, so we've metaphorically kissed and made up, now let's keep going," Jett said, rubbing his hands together. He saw the look cross across both boys' faces and rolled his eyes. "Fucking kiss now and I will end you both!"

Laughing, the other two English speaking boys shook their heads and continued to walk around the room. This room was the worst by far, everything growing something else on it. Arthur looked around, particularly at the floor as he could just about notice a slight difference from the grime and the natural tile colours.

"The lounge area is just filled with old papers," Lovino said as he Antonio, Feliciano and Ludwig joined them.

"Birth records and photos and stuff," Antonio added. He tilted his head as he watched Arthur walk across the floor with his head down. "Uh, what is he doing?"

"Don't ask," Alfred replied, looking at them like 'it'll be easier to just let him do it and get an answer later'. Nodding, they watched as Arthur walked all the way over to a cupboard area. The smallest boy looked it up and down before reaching forwards and placing his hands on the handle, pulling the door open slowly before letting it swing open the rest of the way as he used his hands to cover his mouth and nose as an awful smell hit him.

"Fuck…" Jett muttered, doing the same as Arthur as the smell travelled around the room to strike all of them.

"I think I found George Eden…" Arthur said. The others moved over slowly, their eyes widening as they took in the site of the slightly gooey corpse. There was no hair left and barely any skin or muscles, the moisture in the cupboard having created an environment unsuitable for the living. The skeleton had bits of mould or goo sticking to various areas, bugs crawling in and out of the sockets of his eyes; the suit worn and the general bone structuring (though left in the foetal position) definitely that of a man of that era.

"How did he die?" Ludwig asked, kneeling down slightly. Arthur shook his head in response. "There are what seem to be claw marks on his torso but…"

"I don't think he was murdered in any way that we could do," he replied.

"What makes you say he was murdered?" Antonio said.

"Because his daughter was that murdering bitch?" said Lovino sarcastically, looking up at Antonio with an exasperated expression. Antonio shrugged awkwardly and looked around.

"How did you know he was there?"

"I followed the trail," Arthur said, pointing across the floor. "If you look closely, you can see that that's not just grime; there's dried blood there. Staining the way to George's last resting place…"

"This is getting seriously creepy…" Feliciano said, glancing over his shoulder at the door to the atrium just in case.

"I'm afraid it's only going to get worse," Arthur said. "George wasn't alone in this house remember… His wife Mary was here too. The servants had been sent home for some reason and when they went to get inside the next day, they couldn't even get into the grounds… The Eden family were never seen again and because no one could get here, the building was declared abandoned."

"Then how come we could get inside?" Alfred asked.

"Because we were allowed," Arthur said, looking at them. "I think as soon as we find Mary, we'll understand what's going on. Won't we Francis?"

Turning to the ghost still lingering in the room, everyone looked at him and took in his hollow expression. With the nod of his head as their cue, the group looked back to Arthur for the rest of their plan.

"We head upstairs," the boy said. "We've searched all down here, though from the extent everyone seemed to do Mary may be down here. But chances are, she's waiting for us upstairs."

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

No one could decide if the upstairs was worse than the lower floor or not. Everything about this house just screamed decay, death and desperation. The holes in the whole structure echoed to them events that happened a long time ago, the building telling more and more of its story the further they ventured inside.

Arthur decided to walk ahead of the others once more, getting a feeling inside him that he just couldn't shake. It was like something was pulling him in a certain path. Letting it guide him, he walked to the room at the nearest end of the stairway; a bathroom. Nothing special except for the red hand print plastered to the glass of the bathroom mirror. Next, he walked across the hall into what was the first of many bedrooms; a girl's bedroom it seemed.

A vanity table laid barren, the mirror smashed and the glass littering the carpet bellow. The bed was made with a red duvet, one of the only things that seemed to have nothing growing from it. Paintings were on the wall of flowers and all seemed to innocent to be true.

"Is this Willow's room?" Lovino asked.

"No," Arthur replied simply. The group could tell that he knew something was going on in Arthur's head, but knew that they wouldn't find out just yet. Stepping backwards, they followed him down the hallway to the next bedroom – all blinking at the sight that was presented to them.

This room was far darker than the last, scratches on the wallpaper from lithe hands with nails that could have been razor blades. The bed cover was dark, the curtains on the four poster frayed and sliced. Nothing had been left in the room it seemed because Arthur knew where they had gone.

"This is Willow's room," he said, looking back at the others.

"Then whose room was that?" Jett asked, motioning back towards the room they had just vacated.

"I have an idea," Arthur replied. "But I'm waiting for the facts to prove me right first. Let's head to the master bedroom."

Confused by his sudden need to skip rooms, the group merely nodded and followed Arthur's lead as he hurried down the corridor to the closed door at the end. He paused outside, taking a moment to gather himself before putting his hand on the doorknob and opening the door. He stepped inside, looking at the bed with remorse before looking back at his friends.

"I've found Mary," he said solemnly. Nervously, the group walked into the room and gasped slightly as they looked at the bed. Mary Eden was lying in bed, undisturbed from what had been her final sleep. She was facing upwards; her skull leant backwards thanks to a sharp cut part way through her spinal cord. The white nightdress her corpse still wore was dark with dust and stained with blood across the neckline and the stomach – the bed covers blood stained too.

A couple of the boys reached as they looked at her, Feliciano leaving the room quickly to actually throw up.

"So, she was definitely murdered…" Alfred said as he took a few steps over to Arthur as the older boy stared at the corpse.

"Yeah, she was definitely murdered," Arthur replied, looking up at Alfred. He cough a little as the air started to get to him, allowing Alfred to steer him from the bedroom. "We need to go to the lounge…"

"We need to get out of here," Alfred said, motioning to the others to follow them downstairs. "Feliciano just threw up… You don't seem well… We need to get out of here…"

"No," Arthur said, walking away from the American and into the lounge. "I swear to you now, we will find the answers in this room."

"Wasn't finding those bodies enough?"

"Of course not," Arthur replied, starting to rifle through the papers. "Antonio, Lovino, did you happen to see a family tree amongst all of this lot?"

"We didn't really give it much of a look…" Antonio admitted. "Just a skim really…"

"There might be something," Lovino said. "There's so much in here."

Arthur nodded and looked through the papers, smiling at them as he found what he was looking for. "I was right."

"What were you right about?"

"Willow Eden had a twin sister."

The boys hurried round to the edge of the table beside Arthur, looking at the family tree in his hands. True to his word, written under the names George and Mary were two names:

Willow Eden and Autumn Eden.

"Now we know where her last name came from," Alfred said. "But what happened to her though? There's no sign of her in this house… Her body I mean…"

"Unless she left before all of this happened," Arthur suggested. "Or she died…"

"A clever deduction."

Jumping slightly, the boys all looked up at the new voice.

George and Mary Eden were stood in the door way. Glowing.

_**Notes:**_

**Whoops, cliffhangers!**

**Don't worry, the next update shouldn't be as long away as this one was because I want to get this story finished before Halloween. I have another big story planned to start on that day – another horror story (but with Fem!America). So, I'll say sorry now for those of you who might be interested in this story but don't like Fem!America or nyotalia in general. As much as I love writing with two guys, my practices are now turning to the area that could get me published one day. Besides, I like that "genre" and don't see much written for it so I'm contributing :D**

**I just hope that you will join me for that story once it's up regardless of the gender of America because it's going to be my scariest story yet!**

**But now for this story!**

**I hope that this epically long update is enough to make it up to you guys for the delay. I was made editor of my college's upcoming magazine and shit happens… I'm basically the class slave atm…**

**I told you there would be more twists in this tale, didn't I? Willow had a twin, the family was killed but how? What else is going to happen now the dead are walking again?**

**Please continue to support my story by fave-ing, reviewing and adding it to alerts :D **


	13. Chapter 13

_**In The Shadows**_

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

Pale and withdrawn, the faces of the two people behind the boys were waxy and aged with lines of stress and fear. Their eyes, like Francis', were much too extreme in their colours – either too pale or too dark; the woman's were such a pale grey that the irises seemed to be fading away whereas the man's were such a dark brown they melted into the pupils making it seem like they were two deep dark holes.

The clothes that they were wearing were tattered and blood stained; ghosts of the wounds that had afflicted them and caused their demise, though there was a more gothic tint to them that the boys only just noticed – though the man was in a sophisticated old fashioned suite and the woman in an old time night gown.

Surprisingly though, their hair was the most striking feature – something that the boys only now realised was apparent on Francis as well. They were the brightest, most dynamic colours that they had ever seen – though natural in state, the man presented a rich read whilst the woman showed a glossy length of blonde.

"George… Mary…" Francis said, an uneasy expression forming on his pale features. "I…"

"Fret not, boy," George said, his voice deep and smooth. Had he not been dead, Arthur could picture him being a very hearty and generous man – this was probably why the townsfolk were so fond of them until their disappearance.

Stepping forwards, Arthur looked at them both with an open expression, turning his attention quickly towards Mary – the woman looking at him with a soft, sad smile. Arthur could feel the apathetic aura washing over his body from hers, tilting his head a little as he started to see her much clearer than he had ever seen any ghost before – not even Willow.

"You let us in here, didn't you?" he asked, looking between them.

"Yes, we did," Mary replied, stepping towards the boy slowly. "It has long been since we have been able to find the trust in someone as we can find in you. All of you, but there is something much greater about you that I cannot quite place my finger on."

"You are a Kirkland, are you not?" George asked, observing Arthur – taking in everything from his posture to the movement of his eyes.

"I am," Arthur replied. "My name is Arthur Kirkland."

"You look very much like your ancestor," Mary said, smiling a little. "We died almost a year before that poor young man was taken… But we could tell… When blood is shed in your world it creates a passage into ours, and so much blood shed has happened in this area… the ground itself is cursed until the cause is removed…"

"The causes being… your daughter?" asked Alfred tentatively.

George nodded his head solemnly, taking in a deep breath as he looked at the group of boys before him. "She was no longer our daughter the day she turned 10…"

"What happened?" Arthur asked.

"So much more lies within the story of our families, Arthur," Mary said. "An event that not even Raymond knew about. He was there. He was young and vulnerable, as was… our daughters… Alexander too, but he was merely the one to discover them…

"It would be easier to show you our tales. And I believe you are aware that you are the only one capable of seeing what we have to share."

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked.

"You were the one having the dreams the previous year, were you not?" Mary said. "You still get them now, no?" With Arthur's expression confirming her statements, Mary smiled and nodded her head. "You will learn more shortly, but believe me: your family is very special and very powerful. Take my hand and I will show you."

Arthur looked at her for a moment before glancing at his friends – he could see their nervous expressions but none were telling him no (not even Alfred), so he reached out a shaking hand to the woman's and held it; his vision instantly clouding with white…

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_The halls of the manor glittered as sunshine burst through the clear large windows in the atrium, staff members already buzzing around in preparation of the festival that was happening._

_George smiled as he wandered through the halls, stepping out onto the front porch of the home to find Mary sat watching the preparations in the front grounds. He looked on for miles out at the vast growing forest, the lakes and the land that was filling with people. The day was April 15__th__, the day of the towns annual festival but also the birthday of the Eden twins._

_ "I can't believe that the girls are 10 years old today," Mary said, looking up at George from where she was sat. The man smiled and sat down beside her, placing his arm carefully around her._

_ "I know," he replied. "It seems like yesterday that we were holding them for the first time… teaching them to walk…"_

_ "Mother! Father!"_

_Looking around, the pair laughed as they were jumped upon by a blonde bundle. The little girl giggled as George pulled her round to sit on his lap, her blue dress riding up slightly._

_ "You're certainly excited this morning, Autumn!" Mary smiled._

_Autumn looked up at her mother with wide brown eyes and nodded. "It is our birthday after all!" she smiled. "I can't wait to see the other children and play! Alexander Kirkland said that he would teach me the names of the different birds around here!"_

_ "Make sure to include Willow in all of your games," George smiled._

_ "Who said I want to be a part of her games?"_

_Looking around, they all saw another girl stood behind them. Pale skin and vivid red hair, piercing grey eyes and a green dress – the young girl, Willow, was staring at her family with a neutral expression._

_ "I am really not concerned with the trivial games she wants to play," she said. "It's not that I don't want to spend time with her on our birthday, it's just that I really do not care for the names of the birds… They are the same in essence so what difference does it make?"_

_ "Because every bird is different," Autumn said. "As with humans, there are many varieties."_

_ "What? Rich and poor?" Willow said, sitting down on the grass before her family. "I see not the reason why we should even care about a species less evolved than our own."_

_ "Just because you like to see them suffer…" Autumn muttered._

_ "Girls, stop arguing," Mary said. "You'll have enough people around you to be able to play whatever games you wish."_

_ "Yes, Mother…"_

_ "And look, it's nearly sorted and the people are coming," she smiled. "Go on, look!"_

_Autumn got up from her father's lap and climbed up onto the banister of the porch, smiling as she saw all of the people playing within the woods and across the fields. "Wow…" she said in awe, grinning as she heard laughter getting closer to them._

_ "Autumn, Willow!" called a group of children._

_ "Happy birthday!" grinned a couple of them._

_ "Happy birthday!" said the others._

_ "Hello," Willow said, looking up at them. "Thanks."_

_ "Are you excited?" said six year old Raymond Kirkland, smiling at the older girls. Autumn smiled and jumped down to stand by him – she always acted protectively of the young boy, knowing him to be fairly spacey from time to time._

_ "Of course!" she smiled. "Are you?"_

_ "Yes!"_

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_The festival had started to make its way into the early afternoon, the sun starting to go down ever so slightly as the clocks rang 3pm across the town._

_Raymond, Autumn, Willow, Alexander and the other children were playing in the woods near the manor, all of them running around the trees and laughing happily. Except Willow._

_Hearing a yelp behind her, Autumn jumped and looked around seeing a puff of dust floating up into the air. She hurried over to the edge of a large rut and looked down to see Raymond laying at the bottom holding his ankle._

_ "Raymond?" she called down. "Are you okay?"_

_ "My ankle hurts!" the little boy replied, Autumn able to see the tears dripping down his dusted cheeks as the shimmers of light reflected off of them._

_ "It's okay, I'll come down and get you!" she said, taking a quick look around for the other children. Not a soul was in sight, not even Alexander who had been put in charge of watching over his little brother. "Help!" she called out waiting for a moment but receiving no reply in response. Sighing a little, she climbed down into the rut carefully and looked around them as she knelt down beside Raymond and helped him sit up. "It's going to be okay."_

_ "Okay…" Raymond said; sniffing as the pain increased in his ankle. He didn't want to cry in front of Autumn though, he was a big boy after all and they didn't cry in front of girls. "How are we going to get out of here? I can't climb up there… and you seem too small to be able to too…"_

_ "Oh yes…" she responded, starting to panic a little. "We'll find a way out though… It'll be okay."_

_Raymond nodded, but Autumn knew that he was far from happy at that moment. Looking around, she sighed a little before blinking at the sight of someone walking towards them down the pathway of the rut._

_The man was large, dirty brown hair and soulless green eyes. He got closer and closer to them, the smell of alcohol and a funny kind of smoke hurting their nostrils. He smirked at them, the pair seeing a glitter of sharp silver in the inner pocket of his jacket._

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_ "Willow, where is your sister?" asked Alexander. Named girl looked up from the drawing she was creating in the dirt with a sharp stick and tilted her head._

_ "She's not with us?"_

_ "Neither my brother…"_

_Genuinely surprised, Willow got to her feet and looked around – a real concern starting to pool in her stomach. "But, where are they then…?"_

_ "I don't know," Alexander asked, looking to the other kids playing nearby. "This isn't like them though… Autumn always brings Raymond straight back if he starts to wander off… But this…"_

_Before she could opened her mouth to respond, Willow was cut off by a blood curdling scream not too far away. She looked up as birds started to fly away from the scene, looking at Alexander with a panicked expression as they realised that it was more than one person screaming. Without a second glance, they began to run through the woods towards the screaming, knowing they were getting closer the louder it got._

_They stopped at the edge of the great rut 5 minutes later, looking down to a scene that made them gag and freeze._

_Autumn lay bellow them, her brown eyes staring wide and openly but without a trace of life in them. Blood spattered over her entire body and up her face, but on closer inspection her torso had been sliced open, her stomach area minced by a sharp blade. A long slit ran across her throat, blood still slipping out of it…_

_Then they saw the man. The man cutting into Raymond's arms with the same blood stained knife. The boy was screaming and crying, trying to get away but only succeeding in getting more cuts up his arm._

_ "HEY!" Alexander shouted, the man looking up in surprise at the shout. This momentary distraction was enough to allow Raymond to make an escape; the six year old running over to his big brother's dangling hands in enough time to get himself pulled up to safety. Realising these children had an advantage of being on running ground, the man hurried off down the pathway in the rut away from them._

_ "It's okay, Ray…" Alexander said, holding his injured brother close as he sobbed against him. "It's okay… It's okay…"_

_ "Not yet it's not," Willow said, sprinting off after the man before Alexander could stop her._

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_5 days later the man's body was found._

_Mutilated, desecrated and disembowelled – the man looked as though he had been attacked by a large animal._

_Alexander had told them of Willow's chase of him, but as she had shown up 10 minutes later with no wounds, sweat or blood on her._

_Well, who would suspect a 10 year old girl of such an insidious crime?_

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_Alexander stood in the door way of his brother bedroom, watching as their grandfather, Leonard, tended to the younger boy's wounds. Raymond hadn't spoken since the attack, too traumatised by what had happened to even utter a single sound. He had screamed himself silent that day, simply choosing to stare off into a distance as he was tended too._

_ "What's wrong with him?" Jane, their mother, asked._

_ "He is in shock, my dear," the elder man explained. "Traumatised so badly by what he witness out there…"_

_ "Is there anything we can do?" she asked, looking at her father pleadingly. "You're alchemy… Magic… There must be something…"_

_ "There is… one thing…"_

_ "What? Anything!"_

_ "An amnesia draft… Just enough to make him forget all that happened over the past few days…" Leonard said, taking in his daughter's desperate expression._

_ "It won't harm him… will it…?"_

_ "No."_

_ "Then do it."_

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_Raymond was given the draft and kept in his room over the duration of Autumn's funeral. Told she had had an unfortunate accident and passed away, the boy questioned not what had happened to him and why he was covered in so many wounds. It was easier to just smile and let his brother lay with him and tell him it would all be okay._

_Willow wasn't taking anything well at all though. As she stood beside the graveside of her younger-twin sister, staring down into the dark hole that held her little coffin, she could hear the mutterings of the many gathered – her parents talking to Raymond's mother and father._

_She disliked strongly that Raymond had survived and not her sister. She hated that he was able to forget the events thanks to his family's magic._

_They knew nothing of real magic. They couldn't. Glaring silently at the ground as the old fool Leonard discussed the potion he had created with her father, Willow balled her hands into fists and shook – trying her very hardest to keep her temper under control._

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_9 years had passed since that incident, all of the children growing up – Raymond was now 15, Willow now 19 and Alexander now 22._

_They had grown apart, the Kirkland boys and Willow, neither had seen them after the incident those may years ago – and Alexander couldn't say that he was disappointed. He knew somehow that Willow was involved in the death of her sister's killer. He just couldn't prove it…_

_Willow sat alone on her bed in her dark room, scanning over the pages of an occult book she had acquired from a black market a few days prior, reading about such wicked spells that could crush a man's insides just by the balling of one's hand. She smirked as she read and reread the words, looking at a toy that lay on a shelf opposite her as she held out her hand and clenched it into a ball._

_The toy made an awful noise before curling up and bursting, all the pieces falling to the ground. Looking out of her window at the darkening sky, Willow snuck out of her bedroom and looked around the house as the staff made their final rounds and headed for the entrance._

_ "Thank you for all your help today," George could be heard saying by the front door. "I'm sorry that you couldn't have a real talk with Mary today, Bertha… She's terribly ill… Oh, she'll be fine yes, but she needs plenty of bed rest."_

_Listening to the front door shut and lock, Willow closed her eyes and let her mind wander to her father's – watching through his eyes as he walked through to the lounge to get himself a drink. The smirk ever present on her lips, she made her way to her parents room where she knew her mother was laying ill in bed._

_Walking over to the bed silently, she pulled up a seat beside her mother carefully and sat watching her._

_ "You always favoured Autumn, didn't you, Mother?"_

_Opening her eyes a little, Mary looked at her daughter in surprise. "What?"_

_ "Autumn, your dead daughter," Willow said coldly. "You always did favour her, did you not? She was normal, after all. A real girl. Not some hollowed out shell."_

_ "Baby, I love you both," Mary said, sitting up a little._

_ "Liar," Willow replied. "I can tell when you lie. It's a little trick in my head. I can see all the muscles in your face pulsing and they move a certain way when you lie. I was always the abnormal child. The evil twin. I could tell you and Father regretted keeping me. I always could. You would never play with me as much Autumn, talk to me less… It was as though you could sense the growth inside me and disliked it more than a mother really should."_

_ "I don't…"_

_ "Don't even bother with your excuses, Mother," Willow said, clicking her fingers and producing a long shiny knife from thin air. "You knew, all that time. Knew that I really was the one who had murdered that bastard who had taken my sister from me. So, why did you never say anything yet keep me locked away from the world? Or try to at least."_

_ "Willow… I…"_

_ "Enough," the girl said, standing up and looking down at her mother in contempt. "I was never your daughter, was I? I was just a secondary free-loader that came with the one you really wanted. You should join her. Leave this world as she did."_

_With widening eyes, Mary let out a blood churning scream as the knife was plunged deep into her stomach._

_Downstairs, George looked up as he heard the screams echoing down from his bedroom. Panic settling in his stomach, he ran upstairs and along the dark hallways to the main bedroom. As he looked inside, he nearly threw up at the sight of his wife – her insides on the outside and her throat slit so deeply her head was almost decapitated._

_But beside her… Willow - her green dress stained with bright red blood, the long blood stained knife in her hands and her eyes a bright red. Her lips wore a demonic smirk._

_ "Hello, Daddy," she said, throwing her hand out and sending the terrified man hurtling out into the hallway once more. Scrambling to his feet, George started to run downstairs – barging his way through doors in futile attempts to flee. "Oh, Daddy~!"_

_Looking around, George yelled in shock as Willow stood right behind him from thin air. He cried out as he was sent flying into the ground once again, looking up at Willow as she held her hand out and clenched it into a fist._

_In an instant, George could feel his insides twist and turn, everything churning as it liquidized and started to pour from his mouth, his eyes, his ears… Anywhere with a hole…_

_As he collapsed, dead, Willow smirked down at his body and waved her hand to send it crawling across the floor into an empty lower cupboard, shutting it away forever. She walked back upstairs and got the bags she had packed, having known she would be leaving, ignoring the chill in the air that had started to grow since her mother's murder._

_Looking back around as she headed out of the front door, she watched the front door slam shut behind her. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw pearly glows floating around the inside of the manor, wasting no time as she turned back to the forest and fled._

_ "I'm not Willow Eden," she kept muttering to herself as she made her way through the grounds. "I'm not Willow Eden…" Coming to halt in the graveyard, she looked at her sister's tombstone and smiled. "My name is Willow Autumn."_

_**Notes:**_

**And scene! More will be explained next chapter but I really wanted to get this one out! Now you all know what happened before the time of Raymond's murder and why she kills horrible men and then poor old Ray.**

**And the introduction of some helpful magic ;) Everything will become apparent soon! It's nearly the end of the story too :)**

**TOMORROW IS HALLOWEEN!**

**AND THAT MEANS…..**

**A NEW SERIES IS STARTING!**

**Please look out for **_**Unsterblich**_** tomorrow!**

**And props to any who know the meaning of that word without using Google Translate!**


	14. Chapter 14

**In The Shadows**

**Chapter Fourteen**

Gasping as he came to, Arthur's eyes widened and his chest heaved as he tried to regain the air that had been lost from his lungs. He looked around the room in a panic, realising that he had been laid on the nearest sofa – his friends all looking down at him with worry on their faces. He wiped his forehead of the cold sweat that had built up, his stomach twisting into horrible knots as he had no memory of falling unconscious or being moved onto the sofa.

Looking over the top of the sofa, he saw Mary and George watching him with sad expressions on their faces – they knew that he now understood what had happened to him and why Willow was the way she was.

But what exactly had he seen?

"Arthur, are you okay?" said Alfred, the American drawing the Briton's attention back to them. He looked even more worried than he had before they had left for the manor and Arthur started to hate himself more than he already did for putting his boyfriend through such an ordeal once again.

"I'm fine, Alfred," Arthur replied, smiling up at him a little. "Shaky but fine."

"You passed out in front of us and we had to catch you…" Alfred said, helping Arthur to sit up properly. He could feel the shaking in Arthur's limbs but knew it was probably from the lack of oxygen that the older boy had just had to suffer.

"I figured as much," Arthur said, smiling a little. "I'm so sorry for worrying you…"

"You worry me all the time, one more time won't hurt much," Alfred chuckled. "So, what did you see?"

Rubbing his head a little, Arthur tried to remember everything that he had witnessed – all of it coming back to him like an old movie, the edges of the images frayed from the age and pealing in places. He looked up at them all – glancing at Mary and George too – before starting to speak.

"Willow was called Willow Eden. That much we already knew, but she had a twin sister called Autumn," he explained. "They were about as different as two girls could get but Willow was very protective of her – despite the harshness she seemed to have towards the idea the other girl would come up with. On their tenth birthday, the town was holding its annual fair of remembrance. The manor and its grounds were the largest part of the town so they were holding their fair along those areas. The kids of the town were coming to wish them a happy birthday – Alexander and Raymond being two of the children to visit. Alexander was twelve and Raymond was six. Autumn was very protective of Raymond as he would always wander off somewhere and get himself into trouble.

"They were playing in the woods… and Raymond fell into the rut we found… He was six and that's a big drop for even Alfred to get down so he hurt his ankle… Autumn climbed down and tried to help him out but a man showed up… He butchered them… Well, mainly Autumn… She looked as though her insides had been ripped out onto her outsides… Their screaming attracted Alexander and Willow's attentions and they ran over just as the man started to cut into Raymond… The man fled after Raymond managed to climb up to safety, but Willow chased after him.

"He was found dead four days later – butchered worse than he'd done to Autumn who was laid to rest in the graveyard nearby. Raymond was traumatised by the incident but… their grandfather was an alchemist… He had magic… He gave him a potion which wiped his memories of Willow, Autumn and the murderer.

"They never saw Willow again, and she grew up bitter at the loss of her sister and the separation her parents were causing between her and the rest of the town… She killed them brutally and then left, changing her name before fleeing to the town. And we all know the rest of that story…"

"Jesus, Arthur…" Jett said. "What kind of family do we have…?"

Arthur shook his head and looked to Mary and George, standing up from the sofa to give them his full attention. "Explain to me how you knew that I would be the only one to see this," he demanded. "You were certain that I would be able to get the vision that you wanted me to see, so how did you know?"

"You're family has always had magic, Arthur," Mary said calmly. "It had been a known fact in this town for centuries as there had always been a Kirkland living in that estate. And they'd always had magic. At least one member from each generation had the powers… But we, as the heads of the town, were given the warning that one day an event would occur in this place that would lead to the unlocking of the greatest power the world had ever seen…

"Naturally, we assumed that it would be Raymond at first. But as the years flew by, he just remained the peculiar yet remarkable boy he had always been. He was a gentleman rarely seen in the passing times, always willing to help but never did he show any signs of magic. So, when we were murdered we kept a close eye on him in the eventuality that something else would occur…

"But then he was murdered by our daughter and we knew then that that the prophecy had still yet to come true. We then turned our attentions to Raymond's older brother, Alexander. Now, if anyone would get the powers then he would. And indeed were correct in that sense… He did have magic, it did unlock after the trauma of Raymond's death awoke that side of him and that's how he was able to sense Willow in the woods that night. But once again we were proven wrong as he died…

"So we waited patiently, watching from a distance as your family tree continued to grow – more remarkable and intelligent people being born into this world. Some going to war, others trying to educate the masses – and every generation of your family still go the powers that were given to them through their birth rights.

"Then we found you. At first we thought that it may not be you, the oddities that we saw in your younger brother being the most peculiar that we had seen in a long time – but then we took a closer look at you and how similar you were to Raymond but with those eyes; the trait that connect all of your family with magic - that shade of green. Your father had the green of your family tree and he too had magic, though he hid it from you and the world as the shame of magic in this modern world is too great… Your brother has blue eyes, Raymond had blue eyes. But Alexander and all those other members of your family had green eyes – like you. So, we kept watch on you – nervous of how perceptive you were becoming of the events unfolding around you. And the first evening that you saw Willow, we were petrified that she was about to get to you too… But you got away; even in your home you remained safe.

"You had those dreams, visions of a past in which Raymond met Willow and his demise, of a past in which Alexander sacrificed himself to stop her. We wanted so much to stop you when you went into the forest alone in search of her, and when you were discovered and taken… We kept ourselves hidden from Raymond and Alexander at first, but as the times grew more dire for you in that tunnel we knew that we had to help you…

"And that's where the true magic unlocked for you, Arthur. In that dirty water, you lay bleeding. Bleeding in the same water Alexander bled. Bleeding in the same water Willow was entombed in. Bloodshed of such a magnitude leaves a stain and when magic is amongst that stain it recognises the connections – family, power, love. It found you and joined with that power you already had…

"Why did you think that the visions you were having were getting stronger, how you can see us so very clearly whilst your friends can see shimmers of the people we used to be…? It is literally in your blood – you are whom the prophecy spoke of, Arthur Kirkland. You are the one person with enough power to be able to find Willow's remains and end this madness…"

Staring numbly at the ghost woman, Arthur tried his hardest to comprehend what he had just been told; his family was magical, his father had powers and so did he, but he was some child of prophecy…? It all seemed so farfetched, yet at the same time he couldn't help but realise the irony of some of the things Mary had said to him – the connections that truly stood some grounds as valid arguments.

"But why have I never known this?" Arthur asked. "Why did I never know any of this about my own family?"

"Your family is secretive," George explained. "Those with magical abilities generally taught the next in line when they started to show the signs of their potential. Your grandfather taught your father, but your father was supposed to teach you…"

"So once again my father is a deadbeat and left me to something that is probably going to kill me," Arthur said, balling his hands into fists. "And I had to find this all out from people who died a century ago…

"I'm sorry, but I can't do this… I can't do it… I'm not powerful and even if I am, I have no knowledge as to how to work these powers you say I have… I can't defeat Willow… I can't…"

"What kind of attitude is that to have?" Alfred asked, stepping up behind Arthur and looking down at him with furrowed brows and defiant cerulean eyes. "What did you always say to me as we were growing up? You can do anything if you put your mind to it, you can be whatever you want to be and if you fail that try and try again until you finally succeed. If anyone can do this, it's you. You know what a sceptic I usually am towards magic and stuff, but all of this has opened my eyes to some pretty intense shit. You even said it yourself that all of this is connected to your family – now you have the answers, don't just fucking throw it away because it's not what you expect. Find some way to learn, and fast. Tonight is going to be our only chance to gank this bitch!

"You have all of us behind you, Arthur. Why the hell did you think we all came out here tonight? Look around you. As much as you may feel alone in this, you are so far from it… If all you have to do is unlock these powers then use the one you have. See what happened to Willow, where her remains were thrown. Fight her with us instead of allowing yourself to be taken and butchered like last year! For once, we can do something that no one else can. You're the hero in this case; it's about damn time you started to act like one again."

"You always were one to give intense pep-talks, weren't you?" Arthur said, chuckling a little. He took a deep breath and looked around to Mary and George once more. "How do I learn so much in so little time?"

"That shouldn't be too difficult," Mary smiled, looking to the door way. Arthur followed her eye line and blinked at the sight that he saw.

Raymond was stood, a smug grin on his face. His arms were folded as he lent against the door frame watching us. Alexander was stood beside him, just as tall and red headed as Arthur remembered him – his smile less smug than Raymond's but still with an air around him that Arthur soon felt more comfortable around.

"Raymond… Alexander…" he said. "I thought you'd moved on…"

"You know the lore's around this place, Arthur," Alexander said, walking towards his descendant. "Those who died by Willow's hand on these grounds are bound here until she is put to rest."

"Right…" Arthur responded. "Wait, so you… you can teach me?"

"Exactly," Raymond grinned. "And in so little time too."

Reaching his hand out to the boy, Alexander smiled encouragingly. "Take my hand and I will show you it all. All the knowledge in your head."

"Will I need holding up again?"

"Most likely."

"On it," said Alfred, standing behind Arthur ready to catch him.

"Okay…"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

No time really meant ten minutes.

For ten minutes, Arthur lent against Alfred completely unconscious as watched all of the magic Alexander had been taught. The knowledge was flowing seamlessly into his own memory, everything unlocking in his own mind about what to use when and where. His friends were a little alarmed as his hands started to glow a pale green colour, but Raymond assured them that it was meant to happen.

"Believe me," said Alexander, glancing at the boys. "This happened to me when I was alive too. It is meant to be the sign of our powers unlocking, and the brighter it gets the more powerful he is…"

Nodding, the boys watched as Arthur's hands started to glow such a bright green it was almost as if he were holding strobe lights from a nightclub. Eventually, Arthur woke up with a groan – looking around at everyone once more before blinking his sore eyes.

"Shit…" he muttered.

"You okay," Alfred asked, helping him to stand upright once more.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine…" Arthur said. "I learnt it all… I know what to do… But we have a problem…"

"What's that?" Antonio asked, the other boys looking just as on edge as he.

"What did you say earlier about the lore, Alexander?" Arthur said, looking up at his ancestor.

"All those who died by Willow's hand are bound here until she herself is put to rest," Alexander said. "Why?"

"There is one more spirit on these grounds," Arthur said. "A truly terrifying one… She killed him, did she not? That man who attacked Raymond and Autumn…?"

Alexander blinked, looking round to his brother who looked back at him with fear in his eyes. "We never realised he was there…"

"Or us…" Mary said.

"He knows, I gather, what really happened to him," Arthur continued. "That man still lingers in these grounds. Willow's not the only killer out there now… If were run into him then we're toast… Putting Willow to rest is much more important now – the sooner she'd gone the sooner than man will pass too… But we have to be on our guards; he could be anywhere."

_**Notes:**_

**Hey look! I finally updated on a Monday again! And earlier than I usually do too! I'm doing pretty well today!**

**So yeah. Bring on Magic!Arthur. All those scenes of him performing magic in the series led me to think – well, this is a series with magic… why doesn't he do something. So now he is.**

**It should be nearing the end of the series now. Two more chapters, I think, three tops. I think. You know how I get with stories.**

**I hope you are still enjoying this series and look forward to more soon :) **


	15. Chapter 15

**In The Shadows**

**Chapter Fifteen**

Looking around him, Arthur was suddenly filled with an icy chill – before him, he could see a group of people all tangled together in a dark web of mystery, magic and mayhem; some thrown into the pit with no choice, the others willingly following him into the path of death. He knew in that moment that things were only going to get worse from that point onwards. He really hated that he was once again putting his friends into danger, and worse this time was he was putting his cousin in danger too. Oh, he knew all too well that Jett could handle himself alright in a fight – but the Australian boy had never gone head to head with a malevolent spirit before…

Magic was flowing through his veins like fire, a peculiar sensation that he was really unsure about – it didn't really hurt him but it was a particularly comfortable feeling either. But what good was this magic really? He had only just received it, was forced through an experience that embedded all the knowledge of how to use it into his brain – but still he didn't truly know how to use it.

His head was beginning to hurt terribly, and he wasn't sure if it was the sudden transformation that he had just undergone or whether it was the stress of the whole event – but to play it safe he sat down on the sofa and rubbed his temples to try and ease the tension away. Why did it have to be him? Of all of the families in that area, why was it always his family that was targeted by that psycho? Was this all really stemming from the hatred of a little girl who had lost her sister? Arthur knew the pain of loss himself, but he couldn't ever envision himself causing innocent people pain for the sake of petty revenge.

"Arthur?" came Alfred's voice, drawing Arthur out of his thoughts. Looking up at the taller boy, the Briton gave him a weak smile and sighed a little. "Are you okay?"

"Alfred, we are currently trapped in a haunted house in the middle of the woods with two homicidal ghosts outside, 5 good ghosts inside and me turning into the biggest freak this place has seen in 100 years," Arthur replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "I'm pretty far from okay, but I can't do anything about it at the moment if we all want to get out of here alive…"

"Oh…" Alfred said numbly, rubbing his arm awkwardly. Arthur watched him carefully – he was keeping a slight distance from him, so Arthur knew that Alfred was becoming nervous around him even if his face wasn't showing any other emotion. And Arthur couldn't really blame him – he thought that he was right. Arthur wasn't a normal teenaged boy anymore, he was barely even human anymore – so it stood to reason that Alfred would start to get freaked out by him. Inwardly, Arthur was chuckling about how much he had really came to know his boyfriend – Alfred would be holding him by now, even when they weren't a couple the American would make some kind of physical contact when he knew that his friend was in pain (mental or physical).

Glancing around at the others, all of them keeping their distance too, Arthur couldn't help but feel saddened by their sudden change of heart towards him – he knew that they were only being like this because of the tension of this whole nightmare, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"What are we going to do now?" Feliciano asked, looking around the room at the group. "We can't just sit here… But it's not safe to go out there so unprepared…"

"Feliciano's right," Ludwig said, sitting down on a wooden chair perched beside a table. "We may just have to wait it out…"

"We can't," Arthur said, shaking his head. "If this isn't sorted tonight, it never will be…"

"Yeah, but unfortunately we can't get out there with two spirits, Arthur!" Alfred said, looking at the smaller boy squarely. "We don't even know what this guy will do, and you're suggesting that we go out there and face both of them whilst you look like death warmed up?!"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER IDEAS?!" Arthur snapped, rising to his feet so he was at least a bit closer to Alfred's height. "I didn't want any of you to come out here with me tonight and now you're complaining about it being too dangerous?! I'm sorry, but I did warn you!"

"We didn't want you to get hurt," Matthew said, moving beside his brother.

"Then it's decided," Jett said, glancing at Gilbert who nodded. "We'll wait for a while."

His hands balled into fists, Arthur watched as Alfred gave him one last look before he walked out of the room with Matthew – the others walking away to other parts of the house to continue exploring. Wrapping his arms tightly around himself, Arthur looked round at the spirits in the room – all of them were watching with sad expressions, even Francis. The French boy moved over to Arthur and put his cold hand on his arm, but Arthur pulled away from him and walked from the room.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Silently, Arthur wandered through the building listening to the creaking and groaning that the old building made in the breeze. He was hurt – he felt ill and isolated, wanting nothing but for this to all be over with. No… That hit hadn't happened in the first place…

He didn't want magic… He didn't want ghosts… He wanted his friends… He wanted his family… He wanted calm, and love, and hope and…

Wiping his eyes, Arthur sniffed slightly and continued his walk back downstairs to where he heard some heated muttering going on bellow the stairs. Walking back towards the kitchen, Arthur silently hid himself behind the doorframe and listened.

"No, Mattie… It's too weird…"

"But, Al! You love him, what's changed?!"

"He has…"

Blinking slightly, Arthur moved a little closer – he was just able to peek inside the room to see Alfred and Matthew pacing and arguing with each other.

"Arthur's still the same person, Alfred," Matthew said.

"No, he's not," Alfred said, shaking his head. "He's got too involved in this and it's changed him. You saw what happened with Alexander! He's got magic! He's not…"

"Not what?"

"Human…"

Unable to listen to anymore of the conversation, a heartbroken Arthur walked away from the area and straight out of the front door. He closed it behind him and leant against the pealing wood, holding his chest as his breath came out in shaky pants. He could feel the tears forming in eyes, but took a deep breath and pushed them back.

He wasn't going to cry for the boy who was turning his back on him.

Wiping his eyes, Arthur stood up tall and walked down into the garden. He didn't care anymore, he knew that right from the very beginning he had been alone in this task – he had warned them, fought for them, and once again they were turning against him.

Alone, Arthur got to the front gate of the large garden and looked back at the manor in the distance. He could see the ghosts floating around in the living room, he could even see some of his 'friends', but no Alfred.

He didn't care that taking a step out into the woods would be the first step to walking into either Willow or Malone, but it didn't really matter to Arthur… Willow was a psychopathic sadistic witch hell bent on killing him, Malone was a psychopath who liked to butcher kids – both were as bad as each other, but Willow had ruined his life… His vendetta with her was personal.

Without another look at the house, Arthur left the sanctuary of the manor and re-entered the woods.

_**Notes:**_

**Oh, heartbreak makes people do the craziest things!**

**And ah! An update almost as elusive as the ghosts!**

**Yes, the story is nearing its end but first there must be drama – and what better to kick of the showdown than with an Arthur who thinks he really hasn't got anything more to live for?**

**See you soon!**


	16. Chapter 16

**In The Shadows**

**Chapter Sixteen**

Every little noise had Arthur on edge, his body tense for the first sign of trouble. The sound of his feet hitting the ground slowly was muffled by the dead damp leaves that were falling from the trees above him. It was survival of the fittest at its most peculiar – ghost versus human, supernatural versus humanity.

He was just as much a hunter as he was prey – aware of the many eyes of animals looking at him as he passed them, knowing all too well that out there Willow and Malone were wandering in possibly the same manor he was. Maybe they already knew where he was? Maybe they were stalking him already – Malone for his sick need to butcher kids; Willow for the sheer bloodlust and vendetta against him.

But Arthur had a plan that he was certain would work. Though a human could kill a ghost by burning their remains to ashes, a ghost could kill another ghost just as easily as when they were human. They are on the same spectral plane after all; they are in the same condition, the same reality. If he could just get them to meet – that's who Malone has stuck around for all these years…

Willow was the one who murdered Malone after he butchered the one person that kept her in control. There was a mutual hatred shared between them, but from all the times Arthur had come across Willow that past year, she never seemed aware that there was indeed another spectre wandering through the forest. And Malone was one that Arthur would assume Willow wouldn't want to come across.

To be kept in the same place for hundreds of years, to hear the screams of humans though you have not caused their pain must bring a lot of hatred to a person. All those people who have ventured out into the forest and talked about the legend of the Autumn Witch. All the talking that the boys did about the legend the year before… who's to say that Malone didn't pick up on the information? Knowing the person that put you in that state was still around and you could end it all and finally have some peace, it would be enough to drive anyone mad.

So that was what Arthur was planning – to lure Malone to wherever Willow was or vice versa. Malone was defeated by Willow once before, hence his ghostly state now, so letting them pit it out against each other has two outcomes that both suit Arthur:

The first, Malone is killed and sent moving on – and in the duration of the fight, Arthur can retrieve Willow's corpse from the bottom of the lake, dry it with his magic and burn it to move her and the other ghosts on.

The second, Willow is defeated by Malone – and that fight alone moves the spirits on, as they are only there because of the bloodshed caused by her and the curse she holds over the land.

Things could go back to normal…

Normal…

Shaking his head, Arthur stopped and leant against the trunk of a nearby tree. A hand reached up and ran through his hair, a low sigh escaping him as he tried to hold himself back.

No, no things couldn't go back to normal… Normal would be spending time with Alfred after college, normal would be seeing him after his mother had made them dinner, normal would be having no magic and continuing as though nothing had ever happened. As though Alfred had never spoken the words he had…

But Alfred had said those words. Words that kept playing over in Arthur's mind and he knew that it was true. Arthur was weird, he had changed, he wasn't sure if he was human… He had seen that this had been pushing Alfred further away from him, despite all the comfort he had been giving him… He knew that this entire event was going to linger in Alfred's memory, influence his feelings further… Things weren't the same with them anymore… They had grown apart, but they hadn't grown up. Alfred was still only 17, Arthur nearly 18… In essence they were still kids. Stupid kids that had gotten too deep…

A snap of a branch brought Arthur back to his senses, his body tensed again and his senses heightened as he tried to find the location of the noise from where he was stood. He knew that the ghosts could make noises like that, but he was unsure whether it was an animal or not. Wasting no time, Arthur hoisted himself onto the lowest branch of the tree he was against and continued to climb until he was high enough to be out of sight but still have a good view of the surrounding area.

Malone stepped out from a bush, his mangled face and matted hair scruffy as the day he died. He grunted slightly in annoyance, looking around the base of the tree as he crossed the path. Holding his breath and staying still as stone, Arthur watched the ghost carefully – he was looking for Willow, that was for sure, but he was confused by presence that Arthur had left behind. Possibly he had heard him sigh and went to investigate, but with no trace of Arthur anywhere Malone wandered off down the path towards the lake.

Knowing that it wouldn't be safe to climb down just yet, Arthur sat back on the thickest part of the branch and leant against the trunk. Closing his eyes, he sighed near silently and rested for a moment; the fatigue starting to affect his aching body.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Matthew looked at his brother in disbelief at what he was hearing. He couldn't believe that the words had really just came from Alfred's face, but the American's resolute expression and downtrodden eyes showed that they had and that he had meant them.

"Some hero you are," said the Canadian in disgust. This caused Alfred to look up in surprise, a wounded expression replacing the last. "So, you're just going to abandon him? After everything you two have been through? After all that he's done for you and what you have just started to repay him for? How fucking pathetic do you have to be to ditch someone because they're not the same?! Change happens, Alfred! It's a part of growing up!"

"I know!" Alfred snapped back, hurt. "But this is different than growing up, Mattie! He's got magic! Powers! Fucking ghosts are wandering around and he's not batted an eyelid! We are in a fucking derelict house with corpses and their ghosts, and he's not reacted! This is a change that shouldn't have happened! We shouldn't be here! This shouldn't be happening!"

"Fucking suck it up, you dick!" Matthew hissed, looking at his brother in a way that showed he couldn't quite recognise who he was. "Last year, it was your idea to go camping out here. Arthur didn't want to. We made him. You kept talking him out of the idea of the ghosts being real because you were scared! Then what happened?! HE GOT FUCKING BUTCHERED BY ONE! HE GOT PUT INTO A FUCKING COMA! AND YOU DON'T THINK THAT WOULD HAVE AFFECTED HIM?!" Taking a deep breath, Matthew calmed himself down enough to lower the volume of his voice. "Magic or not, he is still Arthur Kirkland. He is still our friend, your boyfriend. The one person who didn't pester us the first day we started school. The one person that stuck by us ever since even when you acted like a douche to him!"

"What's going on in here?"

Looking around, the twins watched as Jett entered the room – the Australian looking at the pair in confusion.

"We could hear you in the other room…" he said, glancing at Alfred darkly. "What's this you've been saying about Arthur? You're planning to walk out on my cousin, huh? Again."

"Last time we were kids," Alfred snapped, but Jett shot him a look that would be fatal if used as a weapon.

"I don't get along with him from time to time," Jett said. "But he's still my cousin, and if you're planning to hurt him…"

"Honestly, I think you walking away from him would hurt him worse than anything Willow could do to him," Matthew said, folding his arms.

Alfred looked between, feeling a little constricted as he stepped back away from them. Who were they to dictate his life? Sure, they were trying to protect Arthur too, but this was Alfred's decision not theirs.

"How's about you two just back the fuck off," he sneered. "I'll do what I like."

Jett scoffed and walked out of the room, muttering curses at Alfred under his breath. Matthew looked at his brother and shook his head.

"For your sake, I hope you let him down gently and after all this," said the Canadian. "Because you're going to get a shit storm otherwise… and to be honest… you'll regret all of this one day…"

Folding his arms resolutely, Alfred watched as Matthew walked away in total disapproval before sitting on a stool next to a grand piano. He rubbed his head and groaned, not sure what he wanted anymore. Just as he was going to get up to join the others, he saw them all running into the room and thought that they were about to gang up on him again.

"What?" he asked.

"Arthur's gone," Lovino said. "We've looked everywhere…"

Blinking, Alfred felt a sudden tinge of worry shock through him but he buried it within him as he stood up. "He can't have gone far. Francis, can you find him? Or any of you ghosts? You have a better chance than us."

The ghosts all looked at one another before nodding and fading away in search of the missing Brit.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Arms folded over his chest, Arthur's breath came out in slow gentle lengths. He wasn't asleep but was still managing to get enough rest to start feeling better. He cracked an eye open when he heard a noise bellow him, watching as another ghost made its way down the path.

This one was different though…

"Francis?" came the name from his lips before he could stop it. The ghost turned, looking up at him with a wave of relief washing over his dead face. It was Francis, though Arthur had no idea why he was there. He watched as the French boy climbed up and sat on the branch next to his, looking at him curiously. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what I was going to ask you?" Francis replied.

"I'm doing what I said I was going to do," Arthur said, looking away from him.

"Alone?"

"I was alone the moment we stepped into that house," Arthur replied, keeping his gaze off him. Francis looked perplexed though. "I saw them. All of them keeping their distance from me when the magic story was told. The want to leave here without finishing this. I told them not to come but they did, and they turned on me…

"Especially Alfred… I heard him and Matthew talking. He said things were different. He said I wasn't human. Matthew said that he still loved me but Alfred said I'd changed. I'm just a burden now…

"So I'm ending this tonight. I know how, and I know it can work. But you need to keep them away until the cost is clear. It'll be that way when you fade away. When you can move on. Once it's over, I won't wait for them. They won't have to see me again because I'm going to get Peter and our stuff, call my Dad and go to Scotland with him like we should have done in the first place. There's nothing here for me now.

"Could you go back and tell Alfred… Tell him I'm sorry he ever met me, I'm sorry that he wasted his life with me. That I'm grateful for his family housing Peter and I… and that he'll never have to put up with me or my nightmares or my life ever again. Tell him I wish he has a better life without me."

Stunned, Francis nodded slowly and faded away back to the house leaving Arthur alone in the tree…

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Sat in the living room, the boys waited impatiently for any news of their friend or even for him to walk into the room. Matthew and Jett kept looking at Alfred, judging him and trying to make out what was going on behind the stoic expression he had trained onto his face.

They looked up as Raymond returned, followed by Alexander, then George, then Mary… All of them shook their heads, the boy's sighing with worry until they saw Francis return. Their worry turned to confusion as the French boy looked directly at Alfred with contempt.

"I have a message from Arthur," he said, looking around at them all. "Not all of you will like this."

Recounting everything that Arthur had said to him, Francis kept shooting Alfred looks as he spoke – everyone truly stunned by what Arthur had said. Feliciano looked overwhelmed by guilt, something Jett, Matthew and Francis noticed before looking at Alfred darkly.

"I hope you're proud of yourself!" Matthew snapped. "Look at Feli! He's a wreck with guilt and he didn't do anything! He's naturally scared of everything! But you! You fucking broke his heart and don't the decency to even look regretful!"

"Arthur wouldn't do that…" Alfred said, looking up at Matthew. "He wouldn't…"

"Sounds pretty serious to me," Jett said. "My cousin is out there alone hunting two murderous ghosts, and if he survives he's leaving the only place he's ever know, taking his brother with him and leaving us all behind. Yeah. Sounds normal to me. Well done, Alfred. Well fucking done!"

"LAY OFF!" Alfred shouted, shooting up to full height – his hands fisted by his side, his face murderous. "I'M LOSING HIM TOO!"

"THEN PUT IT RIGHT!" Jett growled, glaring right back at him. "You wouldn't act like that if you didn't still love him. So stop acting like a fucking idiot and do something!"

_**Notes:**_

**URGH.**

**I have a feeling that you guys are gonna be sad soon… :/**

**I'm sorry for the delay again, but I ended up really distracted :(**

**Either way, I hope you continue to read as it really is near the end now!**


	17. Chapter 17

**In The Shadows**

**Chapter Seventeen**

Climbing down from the tree, Arthur started to make his way along the long gravel path in search of the ghosts. He had made up his mind about everything – he was going to find Willow and lure her into the open. She might try to kill him once they're there but that didn't matter – the noise would attract Malone and if he killed Willow first then they would all go away.

It wouldn't really matter if he died on that site as his spirit wouldn't be tied to the land as the others had been. He would move on straight away without penance and leave the pain he was causing behind – if he wasn't in the picture then no one would be in pain anymore. Alfred wouldn't feel obligated to be with him even though Arthur could see how badly he wanted to get away from him.

Everyone would win in some way…

In the distance, he could just about make out a silver glow surrounding a long trail of wavy red hair. Though his heart was beating a mile a minute, Arthur knew that this reaction wasn't out of fear – he was no longer afraid of this woman – it was out of anticipation.

In all honesty, Arthur knew that it would be so much easier to just let Willow kill him once Malone had arrived. He hated himself more than anyone – even Willow. He just hated that he could exist in such a way, that just his presence was enough to cause those he had cared about pain. He was truly tired of being the reason that people were upset. So death was the only outlet he could see… To go somewhere where he wouldn't have any human contact…

Stepping out of his hiding place, Arthur looked at Willow's back and stood firmly on the ground; his hands balled into fists and his stance defensive, he cleared his throat and watched as the woman turned around and smirked.

"Oh, Arthur…" she said, folding her arms and looking him up and down. "You seem upset, love. Something is different now."

"This is going to end once and for all tonight," Arthur said. "You're not going to kill anyone else or attack anyone."

"Why would I do that?" asked Willow, her expression feigning surprise. She chuckled and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Do you mean those children? Your brother and cousin? I merely did that to attract your attention again. I didn't intend to hurt them. I saw no point in that – the girl's sprained ankle was an accident. You weren't paying any attention to me."

"I was," Arthur said, surprised now. "I spent hours on end trying to figure out who you were. And I understand now."

"Do you really?" Willow questioned, her shoulders tensing in defence. "And what, pray tell, do you think you understand."

"Your name is Willow Eden and your sister, Autumn, was butchered by Malone Smith when you were children," he explained, watching as Willow's eyes widened slightly. "You couldn't come to terms with the death of your sister – and to be fairly honest, I don't blame you… Losing someone so close to you at such a young age is heart-breaking… You killed Malone Smith and left his body at the end of the path your sister was killed on… But you could never forget it. You used magic to kill him and magic to try and escape the memories, but it became too much. You needed to escape more effectively so got what you thought was revenge on your mother and father for moving on with their lives… Butchered them in the old manor house and left their corpses to decay before leaving and moving to the house on the edge of the forest. You took on your sisters name and became Willow Autumn. That's why you can't go back to the manor and that's why nothing in this world can move on when they die in this place – you can't move on from the death of Autumn Eden and effectively yourself and so nothing else can either."

"T-that's a very in depth analysis you've made," Willow said, shifting back from him a little. "No one has ever figure that out… No one has ever bothered to try and figure out the story behind my myth…"

"I thought that it deserved to come to light," Arthur said, stepping towards her. "You just miss your sister… I get that. I miss my mother and my father. It's not the same as death, but they've left me. My mother drank herself into insanity. My father divorced her and left to another part of the country. All I have in this world now is my brother."

Willow's eyebrows rose slightly, and for once Arthur knew that she was genuinely curious. Like she was human again. "All you have is your brother…?" she repeated. "But what about that loud American boy? Aren't you two…?"

"Alfred and I… He doesn't want like he used to," Arthur said, looking down slightly. "I'm different from back then… I've scared him and… I'm not what he wants…"

Willow frowned a little and walked over to him, putting her hand against his cheek. Arthur blinked slightly, her touch cold against his skin. But something about this touch was different – for once, it felt like someone actually cared for him.

"You should have stayed with me…" she said, looking up at him. Arthur looked down into her grey eyes, trying to figure out the emotions in them. "I know I went about it the wrong way… I shouldn't have attacked like that… We could have spent forever wandering the world…"

"Then why did you do it?" Arthur asked. "Scare me, kill my friend, attack us all… Why?"

"Because being in isolation for so long desensitises a person from what is right and what is wrong," she said. "I lost my sister to a man who abused her before killing her. I was hurt during my time alone by men wanting nothing more than my body. So, I turned to magic and it warped my senses… I hurt those men… and wrongly murdered Raymond for something my memory had warped into something worse… Can I… Can I try something…?"

"Try what…?" Arthur asked. He blinked slight as Willow held both his cheeks in her hands and pulled him down, their lips pressing together in an icy kiss.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Pacing around the living room, Alfred tried to focus on anything but the judgemental eyes that were following his every move. He hadn't meant for Arthur to wander off into the forest alone. He didn't want Arthur to leave…

"So, what are we going to do?" Jett asked, his arms folded over his chest as he leant against the doorframe. "Actually, you know what… Fuck all of this. My cousin is out there possibly about to die, I'm not sitting around here waiting for it to happen."

"Jett, we can't just go out there unprepared," Ludwig said, stepping forwards.

"HOW PREPAPRED CAN WE REALLY BE?" Jett snapped, looking around the room at them all. "We are surrounded by ghosts, in a forest of ghosts."

"He has a point…" Lovino said. "I think we should go find him."

"And if we run into Malone or Willow?" asked Antonio.

"Don't stick around to say hello," Gilbert said simply, getting to his feet.

Alfred looked at them all, running a hand through his hair. "So it's agree we're going to get him back then?" he said. "I need to find him… I can't let it end this way."

Nodding, the group (including the younger ghosts) set off out of the manor and into the woods. They were nervous and edgy, listening to the sounds of the gravel beneath their feet and the breaking of branches and twigs as they slowly made their way through the forest. Francis lead them along the pathway to where he had last seen Arthur, all of them deciding that a search of that immediate area would be a good idea before moving onto another area.

Alfred looked around the base of the tree that Francis said Arthur had been sat in, shifting his gaze upwards so that he could see up into the branches. Arthur wasn't there anymore but he couldn't have left more than 10 minutes ago, the footprints on the ground were still fresh.

Jumping slightly, the group looked around when they heard a horrifying shout – all eyes widening and looking off into the distance, hoping that it wasn't what they were thinking…

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Arthur opened his eyes and looked down at Willow as they pulled apart, surprised yet feeling more connected to someone than he had done for months. Willow's lips curled up into a genuine smile.

"You didn't pull away from me," she said quietly.

"I didn't," Arthur said. He looked around and rubbed his head. Willow looked out to the trees and raised her eyebrows a little.

"We're near the lake," she said. "Let's get out of the trees and just sit down… You look like you need to think."

Arthur nodded though he had no idea why he was following her now… He knew that he was going to end her existence, but now it felt different. He didn't understand the feeling stirring in his chest… like he wanted to join her now. The pair walked out from the trees and out onto the field beside the great lake. As they wandered around the edge, Arthur realised that they had been stood in the very area where they had seen the illusion of Horatio the year before. Nothing was turning out how it was supposed to… Reality was bending in such ways that Arthur didn't know what was right or wrong anymore… Like Willow had described…

Sighing, he looked up at the moon and stars. Oh how he wanted to go back to normal. He didn't want any of this to be happening.

Everything was calm though…

Until something tugged him backwards by the back of his neck. Gasping slightly, Arthur struggled as he was dragged backwards before being thrown to the floor. He grunted as he was kicked in the ribs and sent flying backwards against the memorial bench placed in the grounds for Francis.

"Arthur!" cried Willow, distracting Arthur for a moment until he was lifted by his throat to look into the eyes of Malone Smith. A sadistic grin spread across Malone's face before he threw Arthur hard into the lake. He had barely enough time to hold his breath before he sunk under the water.

Looking around, Arthur knew this was the perfect time to do his search. Malone had found Willow and Willow wasn't likely to let him get away again. So he sunk lower into the water, kicking his legs to send him to the very bottom. He knew that Willow's remains had to be buried somewhere nearby – moss and dirt growing over the body which should have just been bones now.

As he reached the bottom, he dug his fingers under the soft lakebed and tried to hook his fingers into anything that could be a bone. It took him a little while, but he soon found the body. Tugging as hard as he could, Arthur managed to dislodge the corpse from its watery grave and pull it up to the surface. He was far away from Willow and Malone as he gasped for air, looking around and seeing them fighting on the other side of the lake. Carefully, he got out of the water and laid the bones down on the grass.

Time was rushing against him; he knew that any moment either ghost would notice him and target him - Willow to protect herself and Malone just to cause pain. Forget the cold that was starting to affect his body, Arthur closed his eyes and hovered his hands over the bones and began to mutter an incantation he had learnt in his sudden session with Alexander – ever so slowly, the bones began to dry.

It was uncomfortable to say the least – Arthur knew one or more of his ribs was broken, and his head was definitely bleeding somewhere on the back from his collision with the bench. Opening his eyes, he looked over at the pair of fighting ghosts – Malone had Willow by the throat, the girl lifted off of the floor and clawing at his hand to try and break free. She looked over at Arthur and saw him over her body – and Arthur could have sworn he saw her nod.

Wasting no more time, Arthur chanted another spell and fell backwards as the bones burst into flames. Willow screamed from across the field as she too burst into flames, Malone dropping her and watching as she writhed into nothingness. Stunned for a moment, he looked over to where Arthur was and saw the body of flames. However, before he could do anymore then take a few steps forward his body shimmered and he disappeared…

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

After watching Francis, Raymond and Alexander shimmer and disappear without warning, the group began to fret. Running, Alfred and the others made their way through the trees as fast as they could – panic was causing the adrenaline to start surging through their bodies as they tried to find any sign of where Arthur could be.

Alfred looked around as he saw a light, motioning for the others to follow him as he made his way out of the forest and onto the field to take a better look.

"Arthur…" he uttered, looking at the flames and his boyfriend sat beside them not moving. Forgetting the others, he sprinted across the field to him and collapsed to his knees beside him. "Arthur, are you okay?"

Jumping slightly, Arthur looked at Alfred and shifted back as the American tried to touch his cheek. Alfred looked over the Briton carefully, taking note of his soaked body, the blood on his head and the way he was holding his ribs – he knew he was probably in pain, but how he was making a distance between them only caused him to worry more.

"Arthur…"

"Stay away from me," Arthur said, getting to his feet shakily. He looked as the rest of them came to a halt nearby, watching with unease. Alfred got to his feet and looked at Arthur sadly.

"I never meant any of what I said…" he said. "I love you…"

"You never say things you don't mean…" Arthur said. "You may love me… but you can't be near me… It's all over now… Willow's… gone… Malone is gone and so are the others judging by the lack of ghosts in the crowd… I'm leaving, Alfred. Peter and I are moving to Scotland whether he or you or anyone else wants us to. My father… got in contact with me the other day. He knows about my mother and our situation and said we were more than welcome to join them… I'm sorry, Alfred… I really am…"

"Then don't go!" Alfred said, grabbing at Arthur's hands desperately. Tears were welling up in his eyes as he tried to keep some hold on Arthur. "Please! I love you! Don't go!"

"I have to go…" Arthur said, tearing up too. His voice broke but he stood firm and pulled his hand from Alfred's grip. "This isn't healthy… We're not… Everything's changed. You said I'm not human and I honestly don't feel it anymore… I'm sorry, Alfred… I'm so sorry…"

"Arthur, wait!"

Arthur didn't look back as he walked away. He could hear Alfred calling for him, but kept walking.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_3 days later…_

Having made his way to the infirmary and gotten patched up, Arthur had made his way home again and told Peter the news of their departure. Amelia made sure that Peter was okay before helping him to pack – she told him that there was no other way now other than for them to go to Scotland now that James was aware of the situation his sons were in.

Peter asked no questions about Arthur's injuries, what happened with Willow or why Arthur looked like he could keel over at any second. He never questioned the distance between Arthur and Alfred now, or why Matthew looked so mad…

James had spent the day after Arthur had texted him from the infirmary driving down to collect his sons and their belongings. The brothers made sure they had items to entertain themselves at hand as they would be travelling for 7 hours to get from the south all the way to Edinburgh.

Arthur couldn't bring himself to look out of the window as they pulled away from Alfred's home – Amelia, Matthew and Alfred were stood outside watching as they drove away, and though he knew Alfred was crying, Arthur had a feeling that this was for the best… They needed a break to grow up and discover themselves again, and him leaving to live in Scotland was going to give them that even if it broke his heart.

_**Notes:**_

**And so, Willow is dead. The ghosts have moved on and…**

**Well, are you sad? **

**There is going to be one more chapter, to wrap everything up. But for now, I shall let you get over this awful chapter… OTL…**


	18. Epilogue

**In The Shadows**

**Epilogue**

_**5 years later**_

_I was unsure of the feelings that had arisen in my chest that dark evening – and for a split second, my hands hesitated above the dry bones. My eyes flicked across the field, green resting on heavy grey as she stared back at me. I knew that the outcome would end the same whether I let Malone kill Willow – but I figured that in the long run, Malone just might rest in peace without the knowledge that he had killed another child; even if it was in his nature to do so._

_But then I saw something that I never thought I would from the ghost girl – something that shocked me more than the kiss we had shared and the growing warmth I had felt from her cold body. She nodded to me. She consented to my plan. I knew she wanted to be returned to her sister, and doing so through means of Autumn's murderer just didn't feel right to her. So I cast the spell and burnt the bones._

_I was sent flying by the force of the flames engulfing the rotten skeleton – landing hard on my back, I was able to take one last glance at Willow as she burst into blames, her screams piercing the air and sending a chill down my spine. _

_She was gone, and somehow… a part of me had gone with her._

Sipping the warm tea in his hands, Arthur read over the final paragraphs of his first book with slight pride. 5 years had passed since the events that he had written about in his novel, and not a single soul knew that the piece of fiction they were reading was fact. He sat back in his chair and sipped the tea once more after putting the book back into his bag, looking around the little café that he had grown accustomed to since he started his patronage there 3 years prior.

After he had moved to Scotland with his brother and father, Arthur had found himself in a predicament that he had never wanted. Betrayed by the broken promise, Peter started to ignore him once they had arrived at their new home in a small village. He refused to ever speak to Arthur when they were in the same room together, and just couldn't forgive him for letting them get taken away like that.

Arthur was hurt enough without his younger brother trying to make him feel bad too, so spent as much time as he could away from the house – away from his father who questioned him constantly, away from his stepmother who looked down her nose at him, away from his older stepbrother who tried to beat him up, and away from his younger brother who couldn't stand the sight of him.

For the first 2 years of his life in Scotland, he would spend his time in the local library completing assignments from his new college, reading the large old books that smelt like days gone by. He would use the Wi-Fi available for his laptop, checking through emails and answering messages from friends he had left behind and friends he was picking up – like his Welsh step-cousin, Bryn. He never answered emails from Alfred though.

It wasn't out of spite that he never replied – he always read whatever he was sent, but it soon became too much for him so he just deleted any message, and after a while the messages just stopped coming all together. The break was just what he needed to clear his head. He hadn't realised just how dependant he had become on Alfred, and it honestly scared him to think that someone had changed who he was so easily.

By the time he was 18 years old and getting ready to graduate from college and move on with his life in university, Arthur had grown back into the person he had used to be. As a side hobby, he continued to write and read and look at things on the Internet – but the more time he spent away from the house, the more people he came to know and grow close to.

He had a new group of friends – ones he went to the beach with on the odd warm day, played football with on the field near their homes, and went to the pub with when they were old enough to be served.

He had met them all through that café – a nice little place where the teenagers would go to during their breaks at college to wind down and complain about lecturers and assignments and anything else they could think of.

At one point, Arthur had started to date a girl called Lilli, a girl who had moved to Scotland from Lichtenstein with her older brother, Basch, and their parents. It was a safe relationship, and one that neither of them took too seriously. Lilli liked the company and so did Arthur – the attraction was there, and he thought she was beautiful.

But as college ended and times were growing weary with the thoughts of further education, the relationship came to an end and Lilli moved back to Lichtenstein to continue her education there.

And for a while, Arthur was in two minds. He was now old enough to leave the home that was ignoring him – he could go to Lichtenstein and be with Lilli… Or move back to the South Coast and be educated there again.

But he stayed in Scotland. He moved out to another area in the village, but he stayed in Scotland. He never continued his pursuit in Media though – rather taking up a English Literature and Language course to further improve his skills at writing. And with any creative writing assignment they were set, he would come top of the class – his teachers praising every page that passed their desks.

He never thought back to that evening once, until one evening he was sat in that very same little café facing the window sipping tea. A girl passed, so strikingly pale and with vivid red hair. He had to double take for a moment, the memories of the Willow Eden flooding back to him like the magic that still coursed secretly through his veins.

But he never panicked about it. Rather, he pulled a notebook from his bag and retrieved a pen from his inner jacket pocket and began to write down the whole event as he remembered it. From her first attack right to her last scream, he wrote about the legend of Willow Autumn – the girl with blood red hair and heavy grey eyes.

As weeks passed, Arthur built up a manuscript of his story and allowed his lecturers to read through it – they encouraged him to send it off to a publisher one day.

And so he did. Once he had graduated university with honours, he sent the manuscript off to many publishers until one finally got back to him saying they would publish his tale.

So they did, and there he was reading his tale in the café that had reminded him in the village that was now home before he had to head to a bookstore nearby to give a reading of an extract from the book to the many people that had bought the book in its first few weeks. Those loyal followers Arthur had gathered who had made his story reach the top of the best-sellers list across the country – and across the globe.

Finishing his tea, Arthur waved to the owner before heading out of the café – turning on his heel to head down the pathway towards the bookstore. He didn't mind having to do this on that evening – the 5th of November, his 21st birthday. It made the whole event feel just that more real to him.

The shop owner met him at the door with Arthur's manager, a kindly middle-aged woman called Irene who had taken Arthur under her wing the instant they met. They led him inside and let him look around the area that had been set up for him – there were chairs for the journalists and anyone needing to sit down, but plenty of space behind them for any other fans to stand and listen to him. There was a table with copies of the book where Arthur would be sitting ready to give his autograph, and Arthur suddenly felt a little nervous about the whole night.

"You'll be fine, dear," Irene smiled, patting his back gently. "That tale you wrote is brilliant - everyone loves it!"

"Thanks," Arthur said, smiling at her gratefully.

"Oh and happy birthday, dear," she said, handing him a neatly wrapped package from her oversized handbag. Arthur blinked and took it carefully, hugging her tightly as he said thank you. "It's nothing much, but I knew you'd like it."

Curious, Arthur opened the present and smiled at the leather bound notebook and fancy pens he discovered. "Thank you," he chuckled.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

After reading aloud an extract from the book to the many people that had turned up, Arthur happily answered the questions that were put forward to him. What was his inspiration? When did he discover his bisexuality? Was he proud to be an ambassador for the LGBT community? Did he ever think his book would get such fame as it had?

He answered everything honestly, barely taking in the faces of the people in the crowd or their voices. A few wished him a happy birthday and a few women blew him kisses, and just building up the crowds love of him he blushed a few times at the praise and admiration.

"You helped me come out to my parents," said one boy. "When I read what happened to Dennis with his mother's homophobia and how he coped. I thought I could too and they accepted me for who I am. Thank you."

Soon came the bit everyone had been waiting for, the chance to queue up and get Arthur to sign their copies of the book and talk to him up close. It was amusing to Arthur just how nervous and giggly some people were, posing for pictures with him after he'd signed and grinning brightly as he shook their hands. It was soon becoming habit to Arthur though, and he was soon drawn out of his haze by the next person in line.

"Luke was an ass to Dennis near the end," said a voice so familiar to Arthur he had to look twice to realise. Freezing in his seat, he looked up into the blue eyes he thought had forgotten him – Alfred Jones, looking more mature than he had ever done before, smiling down at him slightly.

"Alfred…" he muttered, conscious of the queue hushed voices.

"I'll get out of the way," Alfred said, picking his book back up. "I'll be outside if you want to come talk. I think we need to, right?"

Arthur nodded and watched the American go for but a moment until he had to continue his signing.

Everything had been thrown off balance for him now, and with him so distracted he had to call the evening to close. He said he was tired and made his apologies to those still waiting before heading off in the direction Alfred had gone in. He found the American leaning casually against the side of the store, looking up at him with a mixture of emotions.

"Hey, Arthur," Alfred said, standing up straight. Arthur took in the familiar bomber jacket (though obviously a new one as Alfred had grown considerably in the time they had been apart), the smart jeans and hint of a blue shirt hanging out from under the jacket. He was different, but still the same Alfred Arthur could remember.

"Hey, Alfred…" the Briton said. Alfred smiled at him awkwardly and motioned for them to walk.

"I like your book."

"I didn't think you'd ever read it…"

"I was curious," Alfred shrugged. "So, she kissed you that night, huh?"

Arthur looked at the ground and nodded, not taking his eyes off his feet. "She did," he said, blinking as Alfred put his hand on his shoulder.

"I was the dick, remember," he said. "Don't look guilty." Arthur just stared at him. "You were right, about breaking up. I've grown up a lot since you've been gone. I got my degrees, and a job. Not as fame fulfilling as yours but it's a start."

"We've both grown up," Arthur said, smiling a little. "I'm not as… anal as I was."

Alfred chuckled and sat down on a bench as they entered the local park. "Have you… been with anyone since…?"

Sitting beside him, Arthur nodded. "Her name was Lilli," he said. "We were together for a while but we broke up on neutral terms. She was going back to Lichtenstein. You?"

"I dated a guy called Sam for a little while," Alfred said. "Like a week or 2… And then a girl called Maddy for a month… but nothing felt right. It wasn't the same."

"I understand…" Arthur said. "I'm sorry I never answered your emails…"

"It's fine," Alfred smiled. "It turned out for the best in the end. Look, do you wanna go get some coffee or something? We can catch up."

Arthur smiled, looking up at the man – he could see just how much Alfred had grown up, and for Alfred to have travelled all the way to Scotland to see him… The smile that was on Alfred's face was the same as when they had just gotten together… "I'd love to," he smiled, getting up with the now grinning American.

And so they headed to that little café which sparked Arthur's memories of the night they had broken apart and began a new, brighter chapter.

_**Notes:**_

**And that's it :) A year and 16 days later this story is finally over!**

**Thank you for sticking with it for so long, I love you all so much :)**

**Let me know what you think and there might be some one-shots from the universe if I feel like it :D**

**But for now, I apologise for not updating All of Time and Space – I didn't know what episode to do, but I finish earlier on Fridays so have more time to figure it out XD**


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